Through the Portal
by shadowpanda101
Summary: Creatures like Werewolves and Vampires don't exist, at least, that's what Reed Richards believes before one fateful night. Rated for violence. AU.
1. Fateful Meeting Pt 1

Hi there! As you all know _Night Surgeon _is finished T-T. However, I've written a new multi-chapter fic to fill the void ^-^! The weird part about this fic is that it was inspired by a dream I had. Well, I hope you enjoy~!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

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"FREEZE!" yelled a green skinned guard as he fired a silver bullet. The pellet barely missed the target, which was sprinting at an inhuman rate towards an arched light.

"You wish!" the target replied, showing his sharp canines through his grin._ "Just a little more." _He thought as he continued running. The guard and his partner chased him through the dark tunnel, but couldn't keep up with him. The target finally made it near the light when one of the guards shot another silver bullet. The target ducked, letting the projectile pass into the luminosity. "See ya suckers!" the target screamed as he too passed into the arch.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

_Tick_

"_Ring."_

_Tick_

"_Ring."_

_Tick_

"_Ring already!" _a brown and white haired man screamed in his head, eyeing the clock in his classroom.

"Alright students," the teacher, a plump salt and pepper haired man, exclaimed "who can answer this next question? Mister Reed?" he asked, pointing to the student eying the clock. He snapped out of his daydream and gave his reply.

"5-2i." Reed replied deadpan.

"That's correct!" the teacher happily stated. The rest of the class started mumbling about how they had been having difficulty. Reed just gave a bored sigh and continued looking at the clock.

"_Come on, just a few more seconds." _The brown and white haired man thought and, as if on cue, the bell gave a rather loud _"DING" _followed by the students filing out of the classroom.

"Okay, we'll go over the rest tomorrow!" the teacher screamed over the noise, but Reed failed to hear him as he trailed through the halls, his honey colored eyes glazed with thought.

Once he got out of the building, he reached into his bag and retrieved an old, worn-out paperback, _Misery _by Stephen King. Putting the bookmark back in his bag, Reed began reading the tome while walking through the busy sidewalk. Whenever a person looked like they were going to bump into the student, he moved slightly, avoiding a collision. After a small while, Reed stopped in front of a tan colored house with a black roof. The student sighed and placed his book back into his satchel.

"I'm home!" Reed shouted as he opened the door, receiving silence as a reply. "And why do I bother?" he mumbled to himself as he trailed towards the kitchen, spotting a note on the refrigerator.

_Reed,_

_Had an emergency call at the hospital. Left you money for pizza._

_Dad_

Reed sighed as he looked at the note; his father was barely at home, so this wasn't a surprise for him. He grabbed himself a can of Pepsi and headed upstairs for his room, a simple space with mostly a bed and desk. Reed plopped on the blue comforter of his bed and started at the ceiling.

"And so ends another boring day." Reed told to no one in particular, slightly sipping the blue can. "Get up, go to school, go home, go to bed. The same thing every freakin day. Why can't something interesting happen?" he asked as he got up from his bed, "Psh, yeah, like anything exciting could happen in this town."

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

The target felt himself being surrounded in an elegant glow. He could feel every atom of his body being amplify as the light reached them. This was the most blissful the target had felt in months. This bliss blinded him from the fact that he was plummeting to the ground below and that there was another light following his.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

About three hours after getting home, Reed was sitting on his desk, clad in a black band shirt and matching lounge pants, working on his homework. On his bed lay a half-empty pizza box. The student leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms out.

"Done!" Reed exclaimed as he placed his papers back in his folder. "Now on to bed." He added as he walked towards his bed. However, he was stopped when something caught his peripheral vision. Through his window, he saw a bright golden light heading for the forested area that surrounded his house. It landed only about a half a mile from his domicile. Reed continued staring through the glass, almost hypnotized by what had just occurred.

"_What was that?" _the student thought to himself as he trailed through his house, deciding to postpone his plans for sleep. Once he got outside, he sneaked through the dense trees. He felt himself almost being pulled by some unknown force towards the crash site. He stood on the jagged edge, expecting to see some giant rock or piece of metal. However, that wasn't the case. Inside the crater was a humanish figure. Reed crouched down to get a better view, but all he saw was a pair of glowing red eyes and a giant white blur before everything went black.

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Reed rose from his bed with a shock, looking frantically at his surroundings. He kept replaying the event in his confused head.

"_Was it…a dream?" _the student thought to himself. He kept pondering over this until a noise interrupted his train of thought.

_Munch, munch_

Looking over at the source of the noise was something Reed had (surprisingly) overlooked. Sitting on his floor was a tall, muscular man. His hair was the same shade as the moon and was spiked in the front. The only thing this stranger was wearing was a pair of black, ripped up pants. However, that wasn't what caught Reed's eye, at least not as much as the pair of dog ears on the figure's head, or the giant milky blonde tail, or even the stranger's sharp ebony colored nails. The munching sound came from the figure chowing down on the leftover pizza, a look of pure delight on his face. The stranger's ears twitched and he turned to face Reed.

"Oh, hey. You're up." He stated straight-faced. The student could feel the irritation building up, right along with the fear. Who was this guy? _**What **_was he? And why was he eating all of Reed's pizza?

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So many questions, with the answers in the next chapter! Hope you enjoyed! R&R Please!


	2. Fateful Meeting Pt 2

What's this? I've actually updated twice in the same day! Yep, I'm giving a double decker gift to all my readers for Christmas, a one-shot and another chapter. Enjoy! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

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Reed continued to stare at the wolf/boy/thing in his room, in utter shock as to it's appearance.

"Hello, you still alive?" the stranger asked, and then gave a thoughtful expression, "Humans do talk, right?"

"_Humans? What does he mean by "humans"?" _the student asked himself. "Wh…what are you?" he asked after gaining enough courage. The wolf-thing stared at Reed for several seconds before releasing a thunderous chuckle.

"Man, you humans are all the same. You really need to work on your originally." The stranger stated between his laughs, "I'm a werewolf, duh!" at this, Reed's eyes became the size of dinner plates. Did he just say werewolf?

"Bu…bu…but that's not possible! Werewolf's don't exist!"

"Well, I'm here aren't I? So that means either I exist or you're goin crazy, so take your pick!" Reed was actually thinking about this until a flash of white caught his eye. The student followed the white to notice that his entire left arm was wrapped in bandages.

"Wh…What happened wolf boy?" The wolf looked at the bandage.

"Oh, yeah, it looks worse than it is; first-aid is not my specialty."

"'Specialty', it looks like my hand's been mummified wolf boy!"

"Quit crying like a baby, and my names not 'wolf boy'!"

"Then what is it then?" Reed asked. The human could feel the wolf boy's body tense up and his own body lax, from what he wasn't sure. He felt his mind drifting off into a dreamy state, but was still conscious enough to hear the stranger's answer.

"Johnny…Johnny Storm." The wolf, Johnny, replied. "You?"

"Reed…Reed Richards." The human replied before blacking out.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

Reed snapped back into consciousness with the feel of sunny rays on his eyes. Opening the honey orbs, the human rose from his bed, still dazed with sleep. Nanoseconds later, Reed snapped his eyes fully open and looked around his room. He noticed that one thing from last night was missing: Johnny.

"Maybe it really was a dream." Reed mumbled to himself before he saw the proof that it wasn't, the bandage covering his entire left arm. Remembering the wolf boy's reassuring words, the human headed over to his bathroom and removed the white material. It seemed like Johnny had told the truth as Reed unwrapped the bandage to find nothing wrong with his arm, until he got to the main top. Right where his arm and shoulder started connecting was a black tattoo of three claw marks with bits of red forming their borders.

"What on Earth is this?" Reed asked while tapping the mark with his finger. He didn't feel the jaggedness one would feel with a cut or scrape, but only the smooth texture of his skin. The human was still focusing on the mark when he heard a beeping sound. Looking back into his room, he noticed that his alarm clock's timer was going off. "Crap! I'm gonna be late!" Reed shouted, rushing into his closet for clothes."

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

Reed sat at his desk, concentrating on his novel through the other students' constant chatter. He was right at the most suspenseful part when the bell gave a loud ring.

"Crap!" he muttered as he placed his book back into his bag and boringly awaited for the day's lesson. The teacher, a thin woman with her chestnut hair in a tight bun, approached the front of the class.

"Class, today we have a new student joining us. Please welcome….um….what did you say your name was again dear?"

"Johnny…Johnny Storm." At this, the human's ears and eyes perked up. Looking next to the teacher, Reed saw Johnny, sans the ears and tail, sporting a white shirt, blue jeans, and a black leather jacket.

"Yo, sup?" the new student asked in a nonchalant way, receiving mummers from the class.

"Alright then, Mr. Storm, please go sit next to Mr. Richards." The teacher instructed, with Johnny doing so. The moment he landed in his seat, Reed gave him a "what happened" look.

"I'll explain everything later, ok?" the possible wolf boy whispered, with the human nodding in compliance.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"What happened?" Reed whispered to Johnny as they trailed through the halls of the building.

"Not now, I can't explain stuff on an empty stomach." As if to emphasize his point, the new student's stomach gave off a large growl. The two entered the cafeteria, which was composed of various booths from different restaurants. Johnny sniffed at all the different aromas until one scent caught his attention. Suddenly, the new student grabbed at Reed's jacket, showing off a giddy expression.

"Human, what was the name?"

"What are you talking about?" the human asked, completely confused.

"The name? The name of that stuff you had last night, what was the name of it?"

"What you mean…pizza?"

"Pizza," Johnny rolled the word around his tongue, "so that's what it's called."

"Yeah, what's the big deal?" however, Reed's question went unanswered as the new student rushed over to the line for pizza.

Minutes later, the two were sitting at one of the round table, Reed with a simple sandwich and Johnny with about six slices of pizza with various toppings.

"Alright Johnny, now explain." The human demanded in a hushed manner after Johnny ate his first slice. The other student looked at him and sighed in defeat.

"Okay, you deserve that much. See, there are two worlds, the human world," the student stated while holding a black olive, "and the monster world." He finished while holding a pepperoni. He placed both on his plate and put one of his crusts between them. "The only thing separating them is this portal. The weird thing is, monsters know about humans, but humans don't know about monsters, well, they do, but they don't believe in them."

"So how were you able to get rid of the ears and tail?"

"Easy, all monsters can camouflage themselves into looking like humans; you've probably walked past a monster and never even realized it."

"What about the clothes?"

"Hehe, if you look in your wallet and find fifty bucks missing, don't be surprised."

"What about this mark on my arm?" Reed asked, ignoring the confession of thievery.

"Yeah, in order for most monsters to stay in the human world, they need to mark a human. It acts like an anchor for them. Some monsters are able to come here without marking, but the technique is really top secret, almost no one knows about it."

"Can I tell other people about you?"

"Nope, you can only tell people who have also been marked."

"Okay, now for the main question, _**why**_ are you here?" at this, the human could feel the wolf's body tense up.

"I'm…on vacation." Johnny answered in a hesitant manner.

"Vacation?"

"Yeah," he answered, returning to his cocky self, "I was bored and I've heard a few things about the human world, so I wanted to check it out. Anymore questions?"

"No, not for the moment." Reed answered, deciding not to pry for more information.

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"Ugh, I'm stuffed!" Johnny, now in his wolf form, groaned. He was laying spread eagle on Reed's cozy bed with the student sitting at his desk.

"Well, maybe you'll think twice before getting thirds on pizza."

"But…it….was….so…good!" the wolf boy complained before perking up his ears. Johnny walked towards the window, sniffing the night air before letting off a small growl.

"What's wrong?" the student asked, his face filling with concern.

"Someone's out there."

"Who?"

"No time to explain, follow me." The wolf replied, rushing out of Reed's room. Sighing, the student followed him to the spot in the forest where he had found Johnny. "Show yourself!" Johnny barked, receiving a rustle in the bushes as a reply. Out from the foliage came a short, green skinned man.

"What is that thing?"

"A Goblin Guard."

"Hello there wolf boy, you're coming with me!" the Goblin shouted, throwing a knife in Johnny's direction, which he was able to dodge easily. The wolf then tackled the green monster, causing the two to roll on the ground, with Reed confused as to what was happening. Johnny slashed the goblin with his claws. The guard screamed in pain as crimson liquid flowed from his face and he ceased from moving. The wolf boy got up and started walking away, when the goblin silently got up once more.

"You're not getting away that easily wolf boy." The guard whispered as he drew a revolver. He pulled the trigger, releasing a silver bullet that grazed Johnny in the side. The wolf howled in pain as he fell to his knees.

"Johnny!" Reed shouted, rushing to the wolf's aid, "Are you okay?"

"I'm alright, that thing huts though!" Johnny replied, rubbing his side.

"Now you're finished wolf boy!" The guard screamed, rushing towards the two with a knife in hand.

"Nooo!" the student exclaimed, not wanting him or Johnny (Despite the aggravation he had been) to die. Suddenly, Reed felt his arm burning and lifted his sleeve to reveal his mark radiating a bright scarlet. The human turned to see that Johnny's eyes were starting to glow the same color. Emitting a loud snarl, the wolf's tail started to gain a silver sheen. Turning to the guard, a smirking Johnny charged for him. He jumped into the sky and did a mid-air flip, with his tail landing right on the guard's head. The goblin wailed in agony as his entire body was split in half before disintegrating into nothingness. Johnny lost the red glow and silver sheen and walked back to Reed.

"What was that?" the student asked, half confused and half amazed.

"I have no idea. But it was awesome!" the wolf howled, raising his arms above his head.

"What did that goblin want with you?" Reed asked, this time very serious.

"Beats me, must've mistook me for someone else, I do have the face of a celebrity." Johnny replied, causing the student to roll his eyes.

"Whatever, let's go home, it's freezing out here!" Reed exclaimed as the two trailed back to the house.

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"He's near, I can feel it." A soft, quiet voice spoke. It belonged to a female standing on a cliff that overlooked the town. She had long ebony hair and chocolate eyes. Below her was another girl with russet hair and sea foam colored eyes. "Do you mind?" the black haired girl asked her friend, who sighed.

"Why not, I've been doing it for the past two days." Her friend replied sarcastically, placing her hand on the ground. After a few seconds, she gave a content expression.

"He's a ways off, but pretty close."

"Alright then, let's go." The ebony haired girl stated as she and her friend left the cliff.

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Ooooo, cliffhanger! I'm so evil *snickers*

Please press the blue button!


	3. New Friends?

fantasticpanda101: Here it is folks, the third chapter of _Through the Portal_!

white-lily15:yeah...finally! XD

fantasticpanda101: Oh yeah...I forgot to mention -_-', here's my co-writer and researcher white-lily15!

white-lily15:Yeah, also the reinforcer considering this girl's screenname should be _procrastinating _panda. If it wasn't for my nagging there even wouldn't be a third chapter!

fantasticpanda101: Blah blah blah, quit nagging me!

white-lily15:! Hey, now! Respect your elders young lady!

fantasticpanda101: Only by a month!

white-lily15: That's a month more then you :)

fantasticpanda101: Now see here, you're arguing made me almost forget an important thing to metion to the readers XD!

white-lily15: Oh, I'll tell them...she's lazy.

fantasticpanda101: I resent that! *pouts*

white-lily15: *sighs and pats back* Well, while she's pouting I guess I'll do this. We do not own FF:WGH. We only own two lovely OC's your about to meet. One's um...very earthy XD Enjoy!

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"Wake up Johnny!" Reed shouted as he shook the wolf teen, with no response from the latter. The brown and white haired teen gave an irritated sigh and looked at the clock, 6:35. If Johnny wasn't up and ready in ten minutes, they'd be late for school. Reed ran a hand through his hair while trying to think of how to wake the teen up. A large grin dominated the student's face as he exited the room. He returned with a large metal bucket, a swishing sound emanating from it. The student crept over to the wolf teen with a devilish smirk and tipped the bucket, the clear liquid flowing onto the victim's back. Johnny howled as he jumped off the bed, shaking the water off his back.

"What was that for!"

"To get you up! You got ten…no nine minutes to get ready for school!"

"Wait…no breakfast?"

"What do you think?"

"Ah come on, just a little!"

"You should have thought about that before sleeping in!" Reed shouted as he left a scrambling Johnny to get ready.

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"Ugh, why do humans have to get up so early?"

"Don't complain, just be happy you got ready in time." The brown and white haired teen stated while the two entered the school.

"Seriously, why do you have to get up so early for such a boring place, it's not worth it!"

"Well, we do, so just shut up and let's go!" The first three periods went by pretty quickly, and by fourth, Johnny was sleeping and Reed was staring out the window, thinking about all that had happened last week.

"_He's just got here and he's already caused trouble." _the teen thought as he looked at the sleeping wolf, _"What do monster police want with a vacationing werewolf?"_ with that, the bell ran, causing the students to file out of the room.

"Hey, wake up dog breath, its lunch." Reed told Johnny, whose head automatically rose at the wonderful word.

"Yes, pizza time!" The wolf teen shouted, raising his arms in the air. The human teen sighed as the two walked through the hallway, only to be stopped by three monstrous figures.

"Well, looky here. It's the nerd and his friend!" The first one, a redhead, shouted to his two friends, a brunette and a blonde. Reed tensed and could've sworn that he heard Johnny give off a small growl, ready to fight the three bullies, when a voice broke them.

"Hey morons!" screamed a female voice, causing the bullies to give a scared look and Reed a smile.

"It can't be!" the blonde whispered.

"I thought she moved in middle school." The brunette whispered back.

"Well, I'm back," the trio gasped, "and I told you that you couldn't pick on Reed in middle school, so what makes you think I'd let you in high school? Now get!" The bullies ran with their tails between their legs. Johnny looked to see who the owner of the voice was and saw a young human girl. Her chestnut hair was wrapped up in a high ponytail and her emerald eyes look agitated, until Reed tackled her in a hug.

"Ray! I've missed you!"

"Good to see you too Egghead, but I can't breathe." The girl, Ray, stated as the boy released her. They turned to see a very confused looking wolf teen.

"Johnny, this is Ray, my best friend since elementary school. Ray, this is Johnny, he just…moved here."

"Looks like I'm not the only one with a new friend." Ray stated as a small plush head popped over her shoulder. Ray stared at head before grabbing it. "Oh, get out here!" she exclaimed as she pulled to reveal another girl behind her. This one had long ebony hair down to her calves and large chocolate eyes filled with shyness and hidden behind black glasses. In her hand was a black plush that had purple stitches on various parts of its body and purple stones for eyes.

"H..hi," she stuttered, "my na…name's Annabelle, b…but you can call me A…Annie, nice t…to meet y…you." Annie finished meekly, finding sudden interest in her purple Vans.

"Nice to meet you Annie, I'm Reed." The human teen replied, while extending his hand. Blushing, the ebony haired girl took the hand and shook. She then turned to Johnny, her blush deepening.

"H…hi Jo…Johnny."

"Hey Annie." The teen wolf replied in an awkward manner, starting at Annie. "Come on Reed, if we don't get there quickly, all of the pizza'll be gone." He stated after a few seconds of the stare off. Grabbing Reed's shoulder, Johnny dragged him to the cafeteria.

"See ya later Ray! Nice meeting you Annie!" The human teen shouted while being dragged.

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"What may I ask are you doing?" Reed asked Johnny, who was sitting dog-style on the window sill and staring at the dark sky. The wolf teen gave no reply, which surprised the human boy.

"Hello, Earth to Johnny!" Reed called out. Suddenly, Johnny leaped out the window, into the dark forest below. "Where's he going?" the human asked himself as he dashed out of his house, hoping to catch up to the wolf teen. After several minutes, Reed finally found Johnny in one of the clear areas of the forest, looking at the tree tops.

"There you are, why did you-" he stopped mid sentence as he shifted his gaze to where the wolf teen's was. On top of one of the taller trees stood a feminine figure. Her hair, as dark as the night, flew in a torrent with the wind, as did the bottom lace of her black, Gothic-Lolita dress. The silhouette of an umbrella was in her right hand while her other arm was bent. While Reed wasn't certain, he could feel her gaze peering at Johnny. The two continued their stare down until the girl jumped gracefully onto the grassy floor. By the moon's light, Reed could make out the face of the mystery girl.

"Annie?" Reed asked, receiving silence as a reply. Annie, with her purple-stitched plush and umbrella, took one step towards them, with Johnny crouching in a battle stance, a growl hiding in his chest. The forest echoed in silence before the grass rustled with their sudden and quick movements. Right before the student's eyes, his wolf companion and the girl he had only meet this morning were duking it out at an inhuman speed. Reed could faintly hear a clanging noise, but was unable to pinpoint it. The blurs finally landed on the grassy ground, panting slightly. The human finally saw what was making the clanging noises; in Annie's hand where the umbrella had been was a long blade, its raven-colored metal gleaming in the moonlight. Johnny dashed to the girl, claws protruding out, when she used her sword to block the wolf's attack. However, Johnny kicked at Annie's hand, knocking the blade into the ground. An angry expression gracing her features, the girl charged at the wolf with inhuman speed, tackling him to the ground.

"_Oh no!" _Reed screamed in his mind. He was rushing over to the scene when he heard…laughing? Getting a clearer view, he noticed that Johnny was tickling Annie, causing her to giggle with pure delight.

"Johnny stop! You know I'm ticklish!" The girl squealed, with the wolf letting her go, only to wrap her in a bear hug after getting on her feet.

"Annie, what are you doing here?" Johnny asked in an excited tone. Something then popped in his brain as he turned to face Reed, who was looking very perplexed, "Oh sorry Reed, I forgot to introduce you two, this is Annie, and you meet this morning." Annie walked over to him, looking over his body.

"Yeah I remember, now how does she know you?" the human asked, feeling a little awkward at the girl's staring. Suddenly, Annabelle opened her mouth, revealing two sharp, glittering fangs. Panicking, Reed fell backwards, landing on the ground.

"Hello there, my name's Annabelle, but you can call me Annie. I'm a vampire," She stated, any hint of the shyness she revealed this morning gone, "As for how I know Johnny, he's my best friend in the monster world."

"But why are you here?" Johnny asked again.

"Once I noticed you were gone, I followed you and partnered up with a human." At this, the wolf teen started chortling.

"Who'd be dumb enough to partner up with you?" he asked between laughs. Right then, the grass under Johnny's feet started to move, even though the wind had died down, before rising up and lashing out at the wolf teen, causing him to howl in pain. "How'd that happened?" Johnny exclaimed.

"That's what ya get for callin me 'dumb'!" a new voice shouted, causing the three to look at the nearby trees. Coming from the bushes was a very irritated Ray.

"Ray!" Reed, after getting up, yelled.

"Hey there Egghead." The human girl stated, walking over to the group. She looked over Johnny, and then turned to Annie, "This him?"

"Yep, that's Johnny!"

"Wow, he's as obnoxious as you described him."

"How did you do that?" Johnny asked.

"Do what?"

"That thing with the grass!"

"Oh that…yeah how about you tell him Anna."

"After we partnered up, Ray gained the ability to control nature. She's also able to track people who are near nature, that's why I was able to find you so quickly!" Annie explained in a cheerful manner.

"But, where's your mark?" this question came from Reed. Ray then slightly lifted her ponytail and pointed to the side of her neck. The two boys examined it closely and noticed two tiny holes, almost microscopic.

"It actually worked out pretty nicely, Dad wanted to move here anyway, and when Annie sensed dog breath over there, it made it all the more convenient."

"What do you mean by 'sensed'?"

"Oh, Annie has the ability to sense nearby monsters." Johnny answered.

"Of course." Reed mumbled as Annie was walking over to where her sword had landed. She picked it up and it transformed back into its umbrella form. Then, her plush's mouth opened and she placed the umbrella in it. "Ho…how did that-?"

"Sorry about that, this little guy is Paradox, or Dox for short."

"Doxxxxx" Dox slightly hissed.

"But the umbrella-"

"I named him Paradox because he's an actual paradox; he's bigger on the inside than out."

"Bu…bu…bu"

"Yeah, it weirded me out at first too Reed." Ray assured her friend, patting his back.

"So, this morning, you knew about Johnny?" Reed asked with his expression more serious.

"Yeah, I did. I would've told you, but I didn't know if he had marked you or not." The human girl replied softly. Just then, Ray felt herself being embraced by Reed. The two stayed like that for a few minutes before Johnny interrupted them.

"Yo humans! Let's not get too sappy here!"

"Hush it wolf boy! I've just met you and I already know you're trouble!"

"Stupid human!"

"Shut it mutt!" and the two continued their arguing, with the human boy and the vampire girl watching with embarrassed faces.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"SHE'S WHAT?" boomed a mysterious voice to a lowly goblin, whom was shaking in utter terror.

"I'm sorry my lord, but when we got there, she was already-" the guard never got to finish his sentence, as he had been disintegrated by a green ball of flames from the mystery person.

"Well, this poses a problem." He pondered.

* * *

fantasticpanda101: There you have it folks! Hope you enjoyed the OCs

white-lily15: I told you one was earthy! XD By the way there are many future fights in store for Ray and Johnny!

fantasticpanda101: It wouldn't be fun if they didn't argue~!

white-lily15: *nods in agreement* Got that right! Oh, and folks don't worry I got her working right now as we speak! See you guys very soon!

fantasticpanda101: R&R! Later~!


	4. A Cheater's Song

fantasticpanda101: Hello there peoples!

white-lily15: Zup.

fantasticpanda101: *skips around happily* It's the newest chapter, It's the newest chapter!

white-lily15:WHOOT! She finally posted!

fantasticpanda101: Yes, all thanks to my slave drive-, I mean motivator, white-lily15!

white-lily15: If it wasn't for this "slave" driver, then there wouldn't be anything to post! Two months woman, two months! Your poor readers are probably about to die!

fantasticpanda101: I can't help it, I've been very busy!

white-lily15:And I haven't! I post once a week, what'd you got Hot shot?

fantasticpanda101: *grumbles* Let's just get to the chappie! But first, fantasticpanda101 and white-lily15 do not own FF:WGH, cuz if we did, there'd be more episodes 0! However, we do own Ray and Annabelle, and right now, only white-lily15 has permission to use Ray in her story _Cosmic Connections_ (It's really good! Read it!)

white-lily15:...what she said.

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The entire audience lay on the carpeted floor, unconscious save for one woman with blonde hair and indigo eyes, scanning the knocked out crowd.

"Shoot, he's not here!" the girl exclaimed, pouting as she sighed, "The master will not be pleased." She trailed off in a fearful voice.

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"How many times do I have to tell you mutt, it's Anna!"

"And how many times do _**I**_ have to tell _**you**_ human, it's Annie!"

"Are they really having an argument over my nickname?"

"Why yes, yes they are." Reed deadpanned as he and Annabelle walked right behind the arguing wolf and human. Ever since the four had met, the only thing Johnny and Ray had accomplished was forming arguments over the most trivial of things, like what Annabelle's official nickname should be!

"I'm telling you, her nickname is Annie!"

"I say it's Anna, it's written in Annabelle! How'd you even get the 'ie'?"

"Because it sounds cooler! Don't you think so Egghead?"

"Oh no, I'm staying out of this fight!" The human boy replied. The two continued their quarrel until they entered the classroom. The two fighters looked at the blackboard, looks of shock across their faces at what the black surface said in all caps:

EXAM TODAY

"Since when was there an exam today?" Johnny practically screamed.

"I told you about it last night," Reed told his wolf friend, "don't you remember?" The wolf teen's face turned to one of remembrance, trying to reenact that moment.

_Last Night_

"Johnny! There's a test tomorrow, you need to study!" Reed shouted from his bedroom door, a large text book in his hands and glasses on his face.

"Huh, yeah I'll get right to it!" Johnny shouted back, his attention keened in on his favorite pastime, human or monster: the television.

_Now_

"Yeah, I might've been distracted at the time." The wolf teen stuttered, rubbing the back of his head.

"Come to think of it, I told you too Ray, so why do you look all panicked?"

"Hehe, funny story…"

_Last Night_

"Ray, don't forget about tomorrow's test." Stated Reed's voice over the phone.

"Please Reed; you treat me like a two-year-old sometimes. I'm gonna study as soon as we get off here."

"Alright then, I'll talk to ya tomorrow."

"See ya Egghead." Ray finished as she hung up the cordless phone. As she was about to grab her books, something caught her eye. The paint on one of her toenails looked chipped, which was bugging the human girl.

"I'll just take a few minutes to fix it, then right to studying." She mumbled as she reached for the nail polish.

_Now_

"Toenails led to fingernails, fingernails led to eyebrows, I think ya get the rest."

"Was last night 'Ignore Reed Night'?"

"Yep!"

"Pretty much. Hey, where's Annie?" Johnny questioned as he scanned the classroom. The three turned to see the vampires reading the text book, and being about ¾ of the way finished.

"Vampires are fast readers, aren't they?" the human boy asked.

"Yeah...she'll be fine." The wolf teen grumbled.

"The two of us, on the other hand, not so much." Ray stated, clearly upset. Johnny, with the same look, was about to plop into his seat in defeat when a voice caught his attention.

"Psh, I heard you guys wuz havin some trouble." Whispered a boy about their age. He had his jet black hair sleeked back, his cobalt eyes hinted sneakiness, and he was covered in a brown trench coat.

"Maybe, what's it to you?" the wolf teen asked, curious about this boy.

"Well," he replied, opening his coat, "I might have somethin that can help yuz." The boy finished, revealing various papers under the brown coat. Johnny and Ray stared in shock at the numerous slips of paper.

"Where did you get these?" The human girl questioned.

"I has my sources, now are ya gonna buy them or not?" the seller asked, his tone very impatient. The two reluctantly handed over two ten dollar bills, with the boy handing them two papers in return, "Now, if ya get caught, ya didn't get these from me, got it?" the teens nodded in agreement, with the boy sleazing off. Johnny wasted no time and grabbed a pair of scissors on the desk and started cutting his paper into little strips.

"Hand me those scissors when you're done, wolf boy."

"Why should I help you, human?"

"Because, I'm a witness to your little scheme."

"But, you're cheating too!"

"Yeah, but you'll be down first." Ray retorted, with the wolf teen giving off a sigh of defeat and handing her the metal tool, "Thank ya Storm." She happily exclaimed, cutting her own paper as well.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"Alright students, you have the entire class period to complete this exam, which will begin…now!" the teacher, a pencil thin woman with strict eyes and gray hair in a tight bun, shouted. The students wasted no time in opening and writing on their tests, four students in particular. Reed, his reading glasses on his face, was able to answer the questions fairly quick. Annabelle, the material fresh in her mind, had little difficultly working out the problems. Johnny and Ray, on the other hand, were sneakily examining various parts of their clothes, where they had hidden their cheat strips.

"_Hehe, this is way too easy," _Johnny thought to himself, _"Humans are so gullible, I bet that teacher doesn't even know what's going on." _He finished just as a piece of an eraser hit him on the forehead.

"Mr. Storm, down here, pronto!" the teacher snapped, causing the wolf teen to give off a look of fright.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"Is this the last of it?" the teacher asked, shaking off the blue jeans she had confiscated from Johnny, who was standing in front of the class in only his boxers.

"Stupid teacher." The wolf boy mumbled under his breath, receiving a ruler to the head as a reply.

"Now my vision may be getting hazy in my old age, but I can still spot a cheater a mile away." Johnny rolled his eyes as he was about to walk back to his desk, "Hold it there mister, you're not taking your test here."

"Where am I suppose to go?" the wolf boy asked as the teacher motioned him to follow her. The two approached a door that was near the teacher's desk.

"You'll be taking your exam here, where hopefully you can think about what you've done!" she shouted as she shut the door. Johnny grumbled as he walked over to one of the two desks in the room.

"Why isn't that stupid human…" the wolf boy was unable to finish his sentence as he heard the door open and a grunt.

"For shame young lady." The teacher scolded as she kicked Ray into the room as well, in nothing but a flowered bra and matching panties.

"Stupid teacher!" she muttered as she went to the other desk. She turned her head to see Johnny with a wide grin on his face.

"Why are you so happy Storm?"

"You got caught!" Johnny stated in a sing-song manner.

"Yeah, well you did too, and you got caught first! So shut up and let me take this stupid thing!" Ray retorted, focusing her gaze back to her exam, prompting the wolf teen to do the same. Johnny sat there, trying to write any answer he could think of, when he noticed his attention faltering over to the human girl. He couldn't help but notice her slim legs, or her toned stomach, or even how it seemed like she had curves in all the right places…

"_What am I doing? I'm suppose to hate her, not think she's hot!" _the wolf boy thought to himself, trying to remove the blush on his cheeks, without Ray noticing, _"Just focus on the test, on the test!" _he chanted in his head, and it worked…temporarily. Unfortunately, every few minutes or so, Johnny felt his eyes wonder at the human's figure, only to stop and mentally slap himself. This continued on for a while until the wolf boy had answered the last question.

"Finally! I'm finished!" he exclaimed, looking over to notice that Ray had finished as well. The two of them exited the room to find that the other students had already left, leaving only the teacher at her desk.

"I see you two have finally finished." She stated without looking up at the stack of papers in front of her, "Please place your exams on the stack, and you will receive your clothes." She added, with the teens doing so. She pointed to a chair nearby, where their outfits had been neatly folded, "I hope you two learned your lesson."

"Yeah yeah." Johnny grumbled as he was putting his jeans on. Just then, the door opened to reveal Reed and Annabelle entering the room, looking like they were in the middle of a conversation. However, the two froze in mid-place when they took in the sight before them, Ray and Johnny in their underwear.

"Eh, what happened?" The human boy asked, completely confused. The wolf and the human girl's faces resembled that of beets.

"Didn't you see it Egghead?" Johnny asked.

"See what?"

"The teacher making us remove our clothes to get rid of the cheat sheets!" Ray retorted.

"You guys cheated?" this came from the vampiress

"Weren't you paying attention?"

"Actually…" Annabelle started.

"I think we were too focused on the test." Reed finished, giving off a nervous laugh, with the wolf and human teen face palming their selves. After putting on the remainder of their clothes, the four teens exited the classroom, with Johnny and Ray having disappointed looks.

Reed couldn't help but feel sorry for his friend, he knew she should've study, but he still felt bad at her gloomy mood. Wolf boy? Yeah, he had it coming.

"Well, I think I epically failed that." Johnny stated deadpanned.

"And to think, you probably wouldn't have resorted to cheating if you had just..." Reed stopped mid-sentence as he paused his movements, causing the group to go ahead of him a little bit. Once they stopped, they turned to see the human boy staring at the wall. The moment the trio got to him, they noticed that he was staring at a poster, advertising an event.

"Come see the hottest new local singer…" Ray started.

"…the 'Signal Girl'…" Johnny added.

"…performing tonight at 8:00!" Annabelle finished. Reed was grinning from ear to ear; he knew **exactly **how to cheer Ray up.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"So humans get together for these things called…?"

"Concerts."

"Right, concerts, and all you do is stand there and listen to music? That's so boring; we could do that at your house!" Johnny exclaimed.

"It might sound boring, but it's different if you experience it." Reed replied as they approached a wooden door.

"And why do you have to invite…_**her**_?" the wolf asked, a blush forming from this morning.

"Hey, if you get to invite Annie, I get to invite Ray!" the human boy retorted as he opened the unlocked door. The moment they stepped into the room, both boys had a look of disbelief on their faces, for most of the floor was covered with plastic bags filled with candy. On the couch was Annabelle, happily munching on a Hershey bar while holding Paradox.

"Oh, hi guys!" she exclaimed as she finished the chocolate treat, "Ray will be down in a minute!"

"Sheesh, got enough candy there Annie?" Johnny asked his best friend.

"Oh my goodness Johnny, you would not believe the tasty treats here in the human world, they're delicious!"

"Dox, dox." The plush hissed in agreement as the vampire plopped a chocolate truffle in its infinite mouth, to which it gave a sigh of pleasure.

"Ugh, is the sugar gone?" questioned a voice, which belonged to Ray at the top of the stairs.

"What's wrong, witches can't stand a few sweets?" the wolf teen asked with mocked concern, only to receive a thorny response.

"Oh, did I forget to mention Ray's dad is a cactus collector?" the human boy asked his companion, who was cringing in pain.

"I think you forgot to mention that!" Johnny spat out between pants; fortunately, the wounds starting healing at a speedy rate. The human girl giggled all the way down the stairs.

"Ready to go?" she asked, with the group (sans Johnny) nodding. The group left Ray's house for the Town Center, where the show would be playing. After a few minutes of walking, they finally reached the ticket booth. Reed was the one who approached the ticket salesperson.

"Four tickets please." The human boy stated, about to get his wallet out. The salesperson looked over Reed's shoulder to see his friends.

"Sorry pal, no chicks." He replied in a gruff voice.

"Whatdaya mean 'no chicks'?" Ray asked, pushing her friend out of the way.

"I mean what I mean." Was the nonchalant reply.

"Oh well, too bad, so sad. Let's go Egghead!" Johnny exclaimed as he grabbed the human boy's arm.

"Wait, I'm not going in there without the girls." Reed responded, causing the wolf teen to loosen his grip.

"Go on Reed, we'll be fine." The human girl stated in an exasperated tone.

"Ray, I-"

"Just go!" she shouted, prompting him to finally follow the wolf teen into the auditorium.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"Wow, I can't believe I'm saying this, but you were right Egghead!" Johnny shouted as he and the boy in question entered the crowded and noisy stadium. In it were thousands of men standing there, waiting for the act to begin. The wolf teen turned to his partner, who had a look of depression.

"Forget that Treehugger!" Johnny exclaimed, knowing exactly what he was think about.

"But the whole reason I even brought this up was to cheer her up, if I had-"

"Shh, it's starting!" the wolf boy interrupted the human as the lights dimmed and pointed to the stage. The floor opened and revealed a beautiful woman with elegant blonde hair and stunning cerulean eyes.

"Man, she's hot!" Johnny practically howled as the performer started to speak.

"Hello there everyone, my name is Alana! I hope you all enjoy the show!" this was followed by an explosive cheer from the male audience. As the music started playing, Alana's velvet voice flowed through the stage and out to the crowd, giving the listener a…hypnotizing experience.

"Wow, she's really good." The wolf boy slurred out in a dazed state. It seemed like the music was having an effect on both him and Reed.

"I know, right?" The human boy responded in the same dazed state. The two boys felt their minds drifting off, but their bodies staying in place. After a few minutes, Alana finally finished her song and spoke once more into the mic.

"Alright boys, be nice little puppets and help me find a werewolf." She requested in a cheerful manner.

"Hey, I'm a werewolf." A dazed Johnny stated.

"Oh yeah, you are." Reed replied. Alana started scanning the crowd until she found who she was looking for.

"There he is." She whispered then chanted a few words, causing her to float above the stage in into the mesmerized audience until she reached the pair.

"Is this where you've been hiding?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Who's the human?"

"My partner, I marked him."

"I see, alright then, everyone except these two take a nap!" With that, the entire crowd, sans Reed and Johnny, plopped onto the concrete floor, "The Master will be so pleased!" Alana snickered.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"Stupid ticket manger! This is discrimination!" Ray grumbled as she and Annabelle were sitting in front of the Town Center. The human was pacing while her vampire friend was sitting on the sidewalk, pondering. Ray finally took note of her friend's mood.

"What's up Anna?"

"I'm not sure, but something about this doesn't seem right."

"Dox dox?"

"I feel like that there's something wrong about that singer. I've had this feeling since I saw that poster…and that name."

"You mean 'Signal Girl'?" Just then, Annie's face lit up with realization. She was putting all the pieces together.

"Ray, we have to get in there! The boys are in trouble!" Annie exclaimed as she grabbed the human by the arm and dragged her passed the ticket booth (The manger had left some time ago).

"What's wrong?"

"I know why that singer has been giving off this weird vibe," the vampire stated as they dashed past doors, "she's a-"

"Siren?" the girls turned to face the new voice, which belonged to none other than Alana, only she wasn't alone. Both Reed and Johnny, with the latter in his wolf form, were standing next to her.

"Egghead, Mutt, get away from her!" Ray demanded, with only the singer's laughter as a reply.

"Silly little human, they're mine now."

"They're under her spell," Annie explained through gritted teeth, "Sirens have the ability to control any male with the sound of their voice."

"Correct fangface." The vampire hissed at the insult, "Now then, wolf boy, take care of the human!" she snapped, causing Johnny to tackle Ray. The human girl used her powers to take one of the wooden doors and slam it into the wolf, with him receiving no damage. Johnny then tried once more to tackle Ray, with her running from him to the stage.

"Guess that just leaves the three of us," Annie stated, putting her hand into Dox's mouth, "can't be helped." She finished, digging out her umbrella, which turned into her ebony sword. In one swift movement, the vampire had her blade raised at the Siren, until Reed stood in front of her, causing her to stop mid-move.

"You wouldn't want to hurt your little human friend would you?" Alana laughed out.

"Using humans as a shield, that's despicable!" Annie scolded, aiming for another spot, only to have the human boy block her at each turn. "Crap." The vampire muttered under her breath as she looked around her surroundings. Annie then noticed something that could possibly help her.

"_Interesting."_ She thought to her self.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

The sound of Converse hitting concrete could be heard as Ray was running, trying to avoid a certain wolf teen, who was right behind her. The moment they arrived at the stage, the human girl turned and lifted a piece of the wooden stage and threw it at Johnny, only to have him dodge every one of them.

"Oh come on!" Ray shouted as she looked around for more nature, only to find nothing that would do any damage. The wolf teen inched towards the human girl, bloody murder in his eyes.

"Anna, I hope you can find a way out of this."

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

Annabelle stood frozen in front of the Siren and her human shield, planning her next move. Suddenly, the vampire made a quick dash for Alana once more.

"I told you that's not gonna work." The Siren chuckled as Reed stepped in front of her. Annie then turned right and dashed away from them. "Go follow her." Alana demanded as the human boy did so. He followed the vampire for about fifteen seconds until a slicing sound was heard. The Siren was flabbergasted as a large net dropped onto her shield, entangling him in its black material.

"So much for your defense." Annie chuckled as she walked over to the Siren.

"At least you're human friend will die!" Alana shouted, "There's no way she can match strength with a werewolf."

"You obviously don't know Ray." The vampire replied.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

The human girl inched back farther as the wolf teen inched towards her.

"Listen dog breath, I know you don't like me, but I'm pretty sure you don't want to kill me!" she exclaimed right before Johnny pounced on her. There wasn't enough pressure to do any harm, but it resulted in the wolf landing on top of the human, pinning her by the wrists.

"_Yeah, this is exactly how I wanted to die!" _Ray shouted sarcastically in her head, feeling a sense of fear. This lasted until the human girl's neck started to glow a brilliant violet, causing her fear to disappear.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"_This power…" _Annabelle thought to herself as her eyes started glowing purple and her body filled with a new energy.

"Dox dox!" Paradox shouted to its mistress as it too stated glowing. The vampire nodded in agreement as she positioned her hands on the plush. Paradox transformed, in a plum colored light, into a massive canon that encased Annie's arms. The vampire bent down and situated herself.

"What is that thing?" Alana shouted, sensing what was yet to come.

"Your doom." Was the last thing Annabelle said before an electrifying burst of amethyst energy hit the Siren directly in the chest. Alana screamed and wailed in pain before disintegrating into a blue mist. The canon turned back into the plush as the vampire turned to face Reed, who was now awake from his daze.

"Huh, what happened?" he asked as Annie untangled and released him from the net.

"You were caught in that Siren's spell, but since I destroyed her, you're no longer under her control." Was the deadpanned reply he received.

"Oh, thanks." He stated, blushing a tad bit. The vampire turned to leave, but stopped and slightly turned her head.

"Hey human!"

"I have a name you know."

"Human named Reed."

"Yeah?"

"Ray has been praising you for your intelligence, next time show it! Even a human could have noticed that trap!" The human boy couldn't help but give another blush, this one from embarrassment. Annie noticed his mood and felt a pang of guilt.

"I…I didn't say that to be mean, it's just…when you're partnered with a monster, any monster, you need to be on guard at all times. Sorry." The vampire apologized, pink dusting her cheeks, adding "Is that clear?"

"Crystal."

"Good, now let's go find Ray and Johnny."

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

Johnny was completely frozen. He had woken up only moments ago and was about to move…until he saw his position. There he was, lying on top of the human girl he had sworn to hate, pinning her by her wrists.

"Hey dog breath; you can get off me now!" Ray shouted, with the wolf teen not budging an inch and his face gaining a nice beet color, "Any time now!"

"Well…this is awkward." A new voice stuttered. The two teens turned to see Annabelle and Reed facing them with confused expressions.

"IT'S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!" the two shouted, with the vampire and the human boy chuckling in response.

"Sure it doesn't." Reed chuckled, with Johnny jumping off the human girl.

"I was thinking those two had a thing." Annabelle added. Suddenly, the two received a gush of water to their heads, courtesy of Ray and a puddle nearby.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU TWO!" The human girl shouted as she stated chasing the human boy and vampire, with a **very** confused wolf looking at them.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"We haven't received any reports from Alana, Master." A goblin reported to a dark figure, who gave a sigh of aggravation.

"Well then, send someone else." The figure replied in a dark tone, no concern whatsoever in his voice.

* * *

fantasticpanda101: There you have it folks!

white-lily15: Got to love underwear scenes XD We are sooo evil!

fantasticpanda101: Yes, yes we are XD! BTW, I have a question for my lovely readers, whose side are you on in Annabelle's nickname, Ray's or Johnny's? I'm going to have a pole on my profile asking which name you like better.

white-lily15: I'm with Ray! Anna's actually in her name...but Annie does have a nice ring to it...IDK ANYMORE!

fantasticpanda101: And you have Lily's opinion, so what about yours? Anyway, R&R, Love and Peace! See ya~!


	5. Carnivals, Candy, and Confessions

What's this? Two chapters! Why yes, Lily did just faint *fans Lily*. I decided to let my fans have two chapters to reward them for such the long wait, Enjoy~!

Disclaimer: Fantasticpanda101 and white-lily15 do not own FF:WGH, cuz if we did, there'd be more episodes 0! However, we do own Ray and Annabelle, and right now, only white-lily15 has permission to use Ray in her story _Cosmic Connections_ (It's really good! Read it!)

* * *

"Egghead! Egghead! Reed, are you okay?" Ray asked her friend, waving a hand in front of his face. The human boy had an utterly depressed expression. Suddenly, the nature girl gave off a devilish smirk.

"Hehe, I know what'll cheer ya up." She stated, taking a can of Mellow Yellow from her bag and started shaking it.

"What are you doing?" Annabelle asked, not getting the gesture.

"You'll see." Ray snickered. Just then, Johnny walked into the room, looking very sleepy. The nature girl stopped shaking the soda and smiled at the wolf.

"Hey Johnny, wanna soda?"

"What's with you and what's wrong with the soda?"

"Johnny! I'm offended! I just wanted to give you a peace offering!"

"Okay okay! Sheesh, you're acting like a drama queen!" Johnny retorted, grabbing the soda and lifting the tab. A torrent of yellow fizz splashed the milky blonde wolf's face as he tried to lower the current. He finally threw the can to the ground and glared at the nature girl.

"You…you!"

"I'm what wolf boy?" Ray laughed then turned to Reed once more, only to still see him with a depressed look.

"Wow, you're not even laughing at Storm's misery. Something must be wrong." She stated, looking to see Annabelle helping Johnny clean off the Mellow Yellow from his face and clothes. "Alright, what's up Egghead?"

"What's it like, having powers Ray?" The nature girl was taken aback at his question, but softened as she answered.

"It ain't all it's cracked up to be. Plants keep following me wherever I go!" At this, the human boy gave a slight chuckle.

"Well, at least you're useful in battle." Reed replied, his tone becoming more serious.

"You're useful Reed." Ray commented.

"Apparently Annabelle didn't think so." The comment caused the nature girl to give a sigh.

"Look, Anna apologized for snapping at you didn't she?"

"Yeah, but still-"

"But nothing, Anna was ticked off that night. Plus, she's exactly like me: If she's mad, she'll let you know."

"She was right though, I should have seen the trap."

"Hey, hey, hey, I didn't figure out that it was a Siren, Anna had to tell me on the way, and this was a run."

"But all I ended up doing was getting in Annabelle's way."

"And I did so much better; I got pounced on by wolf boy!"

"At least you were able to fight him!" The human boy shouted out, causing his friend to flinch.

"Reed…you're valuable okay? Not only as a monster fighter…" she stated, placing her hand over top of his, "but as my friend." She whispered, causing Reed to give a small smile.

"Thanks Ray." He mumbled, squeezing his friend's hand in his.

"No problem." The nature girl stated, "Now as for-"

"Get down!" Reed shouted, lowering his and Ray's heads onto the desk. Both humans heard a slight whizzing sound. When they rose, the nature girl turned to see a giant spit wad dripping on the blackboard.

"How did you…" The human girl trailed off.

"I don't know…I just saw it." The human boy whispered, unsure himself.

"Well…that was odd…ALRIGHT, WHO DID THAT?" Ray shouted before she heard a slight whistling. She turned to see Johnny, whistling an innocent tune and holding a straw. "Next time Storm, hide the evidence!" the nature girl added before starting her chase for the teen wolf, who was running in pure fright.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"So, the only homework we have now is History and that essay for Mrs. Chase, right Anna? Anna?" Ray asked her vampire friend, who was spacing out.

"Oh, sorry, my mind was elsewhere." She replied sheepishly.

"Anna, don't tell me!" The nature girl shouted, knowing exactly the cause of her friend's distraction.

"But…I made him feel so sad and depressed, and I hate making people feel that way." Annie whined as she gripped Paradox tighter.

"Dox dox!" The plush shouted, choking under the pressure.

"Anna! YOU. WERE. MAD! Plus, you apologized, so what's with the gloomy mood."

"I know I did, it's just, something about the look he gave me. I could see disappointment in his eyes, and it looked pretty deep."

"Reed gets teased constantly by a bunch of idiots; he'll get over something like that easily." Ray replied, getting irritated by her friend's constant worries.

"But, what if he doesn't?" The vampiress griped, tears forming in her eyes.

"Oi vey." The nature girl groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose, "It's gonna be a looong day."

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

Johnny stared blankly at the television with a red controller in his hands, his eye giving off a small twitch. The dreaded but common "Game Over" title was blinking on the screen.

"NOOOOOO!" The teen wolf finally screamed, raising his arms above his head. Just then, the doorbell rang. Letting out a huff, Johnny dragged his feet over to the door, opening it to reveal Ray.

"Oh great, you're all I need." The wolf mumbled sarcastically.

"Aww, didn't you miss me Muttface?" the nature girl asked with mocked sadness.

"No!" was the deadpanned answer.

"Sheesh, dramatic aren't we? Anyway, I need to talk to you about something."

"Great, something tells me I'm gonna love this."

"I say we call a truce."

"Listen Nature Freak, I don'-wait, what?" Johnny paused mid sentence, going wide-eyed at the girl.

"Look, Egghead and Anna are bugging the crap out of me with their depression. Tomorrow's the 'New School Year Carnival', and I was hoping to cheer them up there."

"What does that have to do with a truce?" the wolf asked, raising a blonde eyebrow. Ray gave off a loud sigh.

"They can't really get cheered up if they're mediating our fights!" the nature girl shouted, "It's simple; we don't fight or kill each other until the end of the carnival. After that, it's blood bath time." She added, flailing her arms in the air. After her small tantrum, she gave off a small pant.

"Us..getting along…and not..killing each other?" Johnny repeated, trying to absorb the information he was just given.

Ray gave her emerald orbs an irritated roll, before nodding. A loud sigh escaped her lips just as a booming laugh filled the air. The nature sensitive girl's eyes snapped over to the spot the milky blonde wolf had been; only to see his hunched over form dying of laughter.

"Th-That's a good one Tree Hugger." He chuckled, wiping away a tear. "You had me going for a minute…" Johnny looked at her crossed arms and the ticked off look in her green eyes, and realized she was dead serious. "Dang, you're being serious aren't you?"

"Like I like the idea of actually trying act like I even can stand you."

"You do know you just said 'like' three times in that sentence right?" The wolf smirked at her blooming red face.

"My..point exactly! I'm probably going to kill you before I leave!" A small gulp was emitted from Johnny's throat. Ray took several deep breathes before sighing softly. "So are you in or not?"

"Hmm….let me think about that….nope." was the deadpanned response.

"Storm!"

"Sorry, McGuire. It's way too much fun getting under your skin." The werewolf chuckled at the growling in her throat.

"Do it for Anna and Reed. They are your friends right?"

Johnny let his eye give off a small twitch, just before he let a long held sigh out. Slowly the milky blonde wolf held out his hand in front of him. "Okay, truce…..until after the carnival."

"That's all I'm asking." Ray smiled, allowing her pearly white teeth to show. She placed her petite hand in his own huge one, only for his death hold to begin to crush her fingers one by one. A sharp gasp of air was all that emitted from the girl's mouth while the wolf put more and more pressure on her hand. "Ow, ow, ow, ow!"

A small snicker could be heard from the milky blonde wolf. "Oops, had to get that out." He chuckled, releasing her hand.

"Okay, then I'm getting this out!" Ray snarled, launching forward at the wolf.

All that could be heard outside the residence was a loud thump and a girlish squeal. Johnny groaned at the pain rushing through his head from her tackle and at the added weight around his waist caused be a certain girl straddling him. He glared at the chestnut haired female while she smirked.

"Even?" Johnny muttered.

"Even."

The nature girl began to haul herself off the wolf, only to feel two warm hands settled around waist. Her eyes slowly drifted downward to see none other then Johnny Storm's hands holding her down. "Uh, Storm what exactly do you think you're doing?"

The wolf raised a blonde eyebrow before seeing his hands on her waist, holding her in place. "Oops, misplaced hands, that's all." He muttered, before gradually slipping his hands off of her.

"Yeah, sure, what ever." She sighed, getting to her feet. "The carnivals at six Storm get Reed there and I'll take care of Anna. And don't be late!" With that comment called over her shoulder the door was shut behind her leaving a puzzled werewolf behind.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"I ask Storm to do one thing! One thing! And he can't even do that!" Ray griped, while pacing the sidewalk in front of an arch with multi-colored flashing lights.

The sound of kids laughing as a colorful wheel turned in the air echoed out of the parking lot. Ray tapped her foot impatiently while Annabelle side from her seat on the curb.

"Maybe they decided not to come." Annabelle mumbled, sighing soon after. The look of sadness and guilt still glossed her chocolate eyes; while she played absent-mindedly with a lock of ebony.

"Dox dox." Paradox mumbled in agreement.

"Oh, they better get here or else!" The nature sensitive girl growled.

"Or else what Nature Freak!"

Annabelle let a small giggle escape her at Ray's rolling green eyes. "And that would be head ache central now." Ray turned from Annabelle's laughs and smiled warmly at Reed. "Hey, Egghead!" Soon though the chestnut haired girl groaned. "You are such a slob!"

Immediately she began to fix his navy shirt that was crooked, and fixed his mussed hair.

"Hey, do you have any idea how long it took me to get him to look that unorganized!" Johnny groaned from behind.

Ray glanced shortly over her shoulder and began to growl out a smart comment, but bit her tongue reluctantly. "Y-You look…good…Storm…..bleck!" She gagged at the end.

Annabelle choked while her eyes widened; as Reed looked stunned at his long time friend. Johnny cleared his throat momentarily and began to gag slightly. "Y-You too…..McGuire….bleck!"

"It's the apocalypse!" Annabelle screeched, clinging to Reed's arm accidently.

"Oh, shut up!" Both Ray and Johnny snapped in unison.

"This is scary." Reed murmured to the ebony haired girl clinging to him.

He received a small bob of her head in response as Ray sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, already feeling a head ache coming on. "Reed how about you take Annabelle and show her around the carnival. I'll stay with Mutt face and made sure he doesn't blow anything up."

"Hey!" The milky blonde werewolf protested loudly.

"I…don't know-"

"Go on you two! We'll be fine. I pinky promise he won't be dead when you come back." The chestnut haired teen urged, as she pushed the pair through the colorful archway.

"Well-"

"Just go would you!" Johnny snarled, shoving them once.

"Okay!" Both Annabelle and Reed squeaked as they stumbled through the entrance.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

The vampiress and brown and white haired teen trailed through the crowded parking lot continuously, not quite sure what to do. The awkward silence consumed both of them as Annabelle began to twist her finger around a lock of her hair nervously. In the corner of her eye she spotted a colorfully decorated booth, with four orange basketball hoops attached to a board, and not to far from it were multiple plush prizes awaiting their winner.

"You want to play a game?" She mumbled.

Reed raised an eyebrow and glanced at the game in question. "Sure."

Annabelle and Reed glanced at the young teen boy behind the counter; while he gathered a few basketballs. "How many?"

"Three shots each, please." The brown and white haired teen requested placing six dollars on the black counter top.

The young man handed Annabelle her three shots first, and to her defense she never once played basketball. Her first shot nearly hit the booth attendant, her second went over somewhere in a nearby fish tank, and her third shot rebounded off the back board so hard it soared over her head and knocked a young couple out.

"Oh, sorry! Sorry!" She squeaked.

Reed chuckled lightly as he caught a longing look in his eyes while she glanced at a purple bat plushy that had an enormous pink bow adorned on its head. "You want that one?" He questioned pointing to the prize.

Annabelle nodded momentarily confused, but her mouth opened with a slight pop. Reed made all three of his shots flawlessly and handed her the small stuffed animal, a tiny blush on his cheeks at the huge smile that broke across her face.

"Thanks!"

"No problem Annie." He smiled; while she held her new plushy against her chest.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

Ray and Johnny stood awkwardly inside the carnival, not know really how to talk to one another without yelling in the process. The chestnut haired girl brushed her hands over her denim skirt, and adjusted her purple tank under her jean jacket. A light growl was emitted from her throat due to the fact her hair was down for once and was getting in her face a bit too often. It was then she saw a booth that had her favorite sport as a game.

"Hey, you want to play a game?" She questioned, elbowing the wolf next to her in the arm.

Johnny raised an eyebrow at her questioningly, until she pointed out a booth with a football game in place. A smirk came over his expression as he shrugged. "Sure."

"Loser buys the food?"

"Oh, you are on Tree Hugger!"

"We'll see Mutt face." Ray smirked knowingly, while they approached the booth.

The teen girl working at the game approached the counter, popping her gum annoyingly all the while. "How many handsome?"

Johnny smirked devilishly, as Ray rolled her eyes semi-disgusted as to what was happening before her. "Gag me." She mumbled at the twos flirting.

"Three each." He smiled, making sure to let his hand linger on the girl's a moment too long as he handed off the six bucks.

The platinum blonde smiled coyly. "Alright then, your girlfriend here like football too?"

Ray practically gagged on the air she breathed on that one. "I'm not his girlfriend!"

This caused the booth attendant to smile. "Here's your three shots."

Ray picked up her football and watched while the blonde werewolf spun his football on its nose on his index finger. Definitely trying to impress a certain gum popping girl. The nature sensitive girl couldn't help but roll her eyes as she threw her football threw the opening flawlessly.

"Beginner's luck." The wolf mumbled. He threw his own football, but it went in the completely wrong direction. "That's bull!"

"You have two more throws cutie." The blonde reminded, popping her gum once again.

A confident smirk came over his features; while he picked up his second throw. It was three minutes later and Johnny was grumbling lowly in his throat. He hadn't made one throw, while his female competitor on the other hand had made all of hers. No one ever told him that she played football all the time with Annabelle. But, that is how the poor werewolf ended up in the monstrous pizza line, waiting to put his own order, and then pay for it with his-actually Reed's- money. He glanced down at his hand and that same cocky grin came over his features at the number and name written in a girl's hand writing. He may have lost the game, but he had gotten that blonde's number. As the line moved a centimeter up he glanced sideways to see Ray sitting on a bench patiently awaiting his return with their food, but soon a guy their age sat next to her. The two began to talk and laugh flirtingly.

With a small frown Johnny noted something. "Looks like I'm not the only player."

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

Reed and Annabelle continued to trail through the colorful signs and decorations, their awkward silence having returned.

"So…" The brown and white haired teen stated, trying and failing to start a conversation.

"So…" The vampiress added, making her attempt. The two continued their silence for several nanoseconds until something caught Annie's attention.

"Cotton Candy!" she shouted as she dashed towards the baby pink booth, leaving a stunned Richards. He managed to catch up with her as she gazed at the fluffy treats.

"How much?" the student asked the owner, a balding man with a white apron.

"$2.50" was the response as Reed placed the currency on the counter, "Which color?" the owner asked, with the brown and white haired teen pointing to a particular color. The booth owner grabbed a paper cone and placed it in the candy clouds until a huge glob of the sugary goodness was on the object. The cashier handed Annabelle the stick as she squealed in delight.

"Purple!" she screamed as she took a large bite, "But, how did you know?" was her muffled question. Reed merely shrugged as he took a small portion of the sugar cloud.

"Lucky guess." He replied as he popped the treat into his mouth. In actuality, his guess was based on her shirt, her shoes, Paradox's stitches, and her new plushy, all of which had the same color…purple.

"Well, it was a good guess." She giggled as she ate the rest of the purple delicacy.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"_Don't look. Don't look." _Johnny was thinking as he twitched back and forth between the food stand and the sight of Ray with some tall tanned guy. The two had continued their bout of flirting and laughter, leaving the werewolf strangely…irritated?

"_Why should I care, she can flirt with whoever she wants…just like I can flirt with that." _The wolf teen trailed off as a cute blonde walked past him. His cerulean orbs scanned the girl as she strolled by, only for them to return once again to a certain brunette.

"_AHHHHH! She's so aggravating!" _Johnny screamed in his head.

"Hey buddy, ya movin' or not?" someone shouted from behind. The werewolf was about to give the guy a major tongue lashing, when he noticed the huge gap between him and the food stand. During his internal squabble, the line had proceeded as if nothing was wrong. Johnny then turned to the hungry, goaded crowd behind him.

"Hehe, sorry about that." The werewolf stated sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Two slices of pizza please." He muttered weakly to the cashier when he turned back.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"_No, this isn't awkward, not at all." _Reed muttered in his head as he and Annie trailed through the carnival.

"_No, not awkward, not at all." _The vampiress stated in her head as well. The two continued their little walk until both suddenly froze on the spot.

"I'M SORRY!" they both shouted at the same time, each receiving a shocked look from the other.

"What are you sorry for?" The student asked, embarrassment flushing his cheeks.

"I could ask you the same thing." Annabelle shouted, the same crimson infecting her face.

"I'm…I'm sorry for getting in your way." The vampiress lowered her head in shame.

"I'm…I'm sorry for getting angry at you."

"Annie, it's.-"

"NO IT'S NOT!" Annabelle sobbed, tears forming at the fringe of her eyes, "You get teased and picked on constantly, I'm pretty sure me yelling at you doesn't help!"

"But Annabelle, that's the thing, I don't care about what those imbeciles and bimbos think, but…for some reason, I didn't like getting you mad, so please stop crying." Reed stated, wiping away the stray tears.

"Th…thanks." The vampiress whispered, with the student giving off a small chuckle.

_Twitch_

The shadow stood silently in the alley, with a perfect view of all the carnival goers at his dispense. Once the figure caught a glimpse of milky blonde hair, he gave off a demon's smirk.

"So there's the mutt." He chuckled as he receded father into the darkness, prepping for his next move.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"Stupid human, stupid carnival food, stupid bathrooms." Johnny grumbled as he waited outside the public restrooms. Ray was inside and had asked the wolf teen to wait on her, and he did…but only because of the truce. Johnny looked around the colorful tables, wanting something to relieve him of his boredom. It was only moments later when he saw something that made him smirk.

"Finally." He mumbled as he trailed a short distance to a red and yellow stripped booth. The single occupant was a middle aged woman with puffy black hair in massive curls. She was reading a magazine and popping her gum annoyingly as Johnny approached.

"Whadaya want, handsome?" the woman asked in a low, thick, drawn out southern accent, which made the werewolf cringe slightly. He gazed over the multiple prizes until something shiny caught his attention. It was a simple silver colored ring, but the shape resembled that of a fern wrapping around itself with tiny rhinestones decorating the leaves. Johnny twitched as it reminded him of a specific nature sensitive girl.

"That ring," he stated, pointing to said object, "How do I get it?" The woman continued popping her gum in that annoying fashion.

"Ya gotta win the game." She spoke matter-of-factly, causing the werewolf to get an irritated frown.

"How do I win the game?" The lady pointed to several porcelain milk bottles styled like a pyramid.

"Knock over the milk bottles." She drawled out.

"_Am I the only one not liking her voice?" _Johnny asked himself, but then smiled at the game's objective, _"But this should be easy."_ He added as he placed the money down, with the ebony haired lady placing three old looking baseballs.

"Ya got three tries." She slurred as the wolf teen grabbed the first sphere, the worn leather foreign to his skin. Taking careful aim, Johnny lunged the ball and nearly cracked the first set of bottles. The second attempt had similar results and on the third, one bottle was merely quivering, but succumbed to defeat. The werewolf pumped his fist in the air as he whooped with joy.

"Okay, pick ya prize." She stated slightly annoyed.

"Duh, the ring, I pointed to it first."

"Well, it'll look awful pretty on ya." At this, Johnny cringed.

"It's not for me." He mumbled, on the verge of shouting.

"For your girl~friend?"

"She's not my girlfriend!" he shouted, getting redder by the minute.

"Then whyda get the ring?"

"Ju…just cause!"

"That seems like an awful lot of trouble for 'just cause', you must be sweet on her or somthin'."

"I am not! Now give me the dang ring…great, now you got me doin' that stupid voice." The werewolf muttered her accent thick in his voice.

"Greatness rubs off others." She stated, her gum-filled mouth rising in a cocky smirk. Johnny grumbled as she placed the ring box in his hand.

"Thanks." He whispered.

"Does your girl have green eyes and brown hair?"

"She's not my girl!"

"What are you shouting for Mutt?" a voice rang out. The werewolf turned to see none other than Ray, irritated look and tapping foot all in one.

"Hey…" he trailed off.

"I thought you were trying to learn how to fit in, yeah shouting…NOT WORKING!"

"But…but…she started it!" Johnny replied, pointing to the crazy woman.

"Leave my Aunt Patti alone."

"I don't care if she-wait, Aunt Patti?" an awkward silence filled the area as the three humans (technically, two humans and a werewolf) stared in utter embarrassment.

"How ya doing Ray?" Patti asked with any portion of her accent gone.

_Twitch_

"Good, still adjusting, but good."

_Twitch_

"How about your dad?"

_Twitch_

"Also good, still the traveler."

_Twitch_

"WOULD SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON!" Johnny shouted, his face red with annoyance, "Where did that voice go?" he questioned, looking around as if searching for an actual person.

"Johnny, Patti's the founder of the Long Island Players, one of the most famous theatre groups in New York. So, what ya trying out for this time?" she asked her aunt.

"Crazy booth lady with a Southern accent." She replied calmly.

"Well, you got the part hands down." The wolf teen growled, weakly holding a thumbs up signal. Ray looked at the wolf questioningly, before her aunt let out a weak chuckle.

"Did I miss something?" Ray questioned, glancing at her aunt.

"Yeah, did you give that to her?" Patti smirked, gesturing to the ring box currently in Johnny's vice grip.

With a very irritated growl Johnny held the box out stiffly before him and grumbled lowly. "Here, it made me think of you."

The nature girl raised a brow slightly just before she pulled the pastel cover off the box and gazed amazingly at the silver ring nestled into the package. The girl continued to stare amazingly at the ring, while her aunt smiled softly at her niece's reaction. Johnny sighed before taking the box delicately from her hand. He slipped the ring out from its confinement.

"Here." He muttered, slipping the silver ring onto her right hand's ring finger. A small blush prominent on his cheeks he uttered too low for her to hear, "Perfect fit."

"Johnny! Ray! Ready to go!" Annabelle squealed, running up to the pair. Her new plushy still clutched against her chest, her gaze shifted between the two confusingly, until her chocolate orbs drifted to the new object wrapped around Ray's finger. Slowly, a warm smiled spread over Annabelle's features.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"I had sooooo much fun, thanks to Reed!" The vampiress smiled, a small blush still prominent on her cheeks. "How about you Johnny? Did you enjoy your first human carnival?"

At this question the werewolf gave off a small scoff. "P-lease, so lame! The only upside was that I got this hottie's number."

Reed groaned lowly in his throat. "I knew you were a player, my worst fears were just now confirmed."

The milky blonde teen let out a small chuckle as the group passed a teen male. His skin looked golden under the street lamp's glow, and his eyes flashing the most enchanting shade of blue. His eagle like eyes zeroed in on the wolf walking between the vampiress and human male; while he glanced around the area. In a gasp Ray's shoulder harshly collided with his during the pass.

The human girl stumbled a few steps before, turning on her heal. "Oh, I'm sor-…" Her voice trailed off at the black like talons flashing in the over head light. "Oh, crap…guys!"

Before any of them could blink, hawk wings sprouted from the male's back as he ascended into the sky, snatching Johnny in his grips along the way.

"Johnny!" Annabelle squeaked; as she and her two companions took off in a mad dash to safe him.

"What is that thing?" Reed asked while chasing the being, slightly panting. The creature stopped only once it reached the clearing, near where the portal opened last time.

"It's a Griffin." The vampiress panted, growling at the winged beast, "It has the head and wings of an eagle, but the body of a lion."

"Great, that's all we need." Ray muttered sarcastically as a vine flew at the Griffin. The beast merely dodged the attack as Ray and Annie, with sword in hand, charged in. Reed stayed behind near a tree, sadly gazing at the scene before him.

"_Here we go again." _The student thought depressingly as he saw Annabelle take a slash at the Griffin and Ray's attempting to trap it.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"Foolish human, you'll need a lot more than that to defeat me." The Griffin chuckled. Ray then forced a tree to lunge at the beast. In response, the creature once again dodged the human girl's attack, causing him to drop Johnny in the process. The werewolf landed with a thud as his ears and tail appeared.

"Yo Birdbrain, try me on!" he shouted, his eyes glowing red.

"I think you'll be a bit busy." The Griffin scoffed as he slashed at Ray, sending her in the wolf teen's direction. Several hits were successful shots, while others missed. After one final slash, the nature girl landed in Johnny's grasp.

"Clumsy human! Watch out!" he scolded, a small blush forming on his face.

"Gee, my hero." Ray muttered as the two witness Annabelle slicing at the Griffin.

"I'm not letting you take Johnny!" she shouted, her sword glinting in the moonlight.

"You'd really let a killer walk free?" the beast mocked as he gave the vampiress a kick in the stomach, putting enough pressure to make her topple off a nearby cliff.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"_No. No. No. No!" _Reed shouted in his head as Annabelle fell off the rocky surface, a look of utter shock on her face.

"_She's gonna die! She's gonna die!" _he shouted once again, _"And it's my entire fault, if only I wasn't such a weakling, then maybe I could actually do something! If only I could bring her back up!" _was the last thought before the student felt a small tug at his mind.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

Things were happing so fast, Annabelle could barely experience the motion of falling.

"So, this is how I am to perish?" she whispered, clutching onto Paradox.

"Doxdoxdoxdox!" the plush shouted at its mistress, not wanting her to give up.

"Goodbye world." She simply stated before she suddenly froze, _"Huh?" _she asked before being lifted up.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"Im…impossible!" the Griffin stated while Ray and Johnny looked in utter disbelief. Right before them, Annabelle was being lifted off the rocky cliff and onto the ground.

"Ow!" Reed shouted as he grabbed his head in pain, which was so severe that it caused him to get to his knees. The winged beast merely smirked at the action.

"No matter, as long as I'm in the air, you're attacks are powerless!" he stated, his golden wings flapping.

"Well then," The vampiress smirked as she reached into Paradox's mouth, retrieving a simple black fan, "Good thing I have a nice shot." She finished as the fan transformed into four pitch black daggers. Annabelle threw each one at the creature, with half missing and the other half landing into the Griffin's wings.

"Ahhh!" the creature screamed in agony as he collided with the grassy surface, only to be met by four angry teens. Johnny approached the creature, eyes glowing red and tail gaining a silver gleam. The winged beast grinned at his early demise.

"Go on, kill me like you killed your sister." Were the last words spoken before the silvery blade impaled the creature, causing it to erupt in a blast of golden feathers. The wolf teen panted slightly as he returned to his human form.

"Phew, glad Featherhead's gone, right guys?" he asked, placing his hands on the back of his head. Annabelle was nodding while Reed and Ray…they had looks of puzzlement and curiosity.

"What did he mean by 'killed your sister'?" Ray asked, crossing her arms.

"Um, well, he-"

"He also asked Annabelle about 'letting a killer walk free'." Reed added. The two monsters simply looked at the humans for several moments before the vampiress let off a sigh.

"Johnny, we have to tell them." She stated sadly, staring at the humans, "We haven't been completely honest with you guys."

"I'm gonna ask you again Johnny; why are you here?" Reed asked, receiving a depressed look from the werewolf, who also let off a sigh.

"I'm here because I'm on the run. I have been warranted for the murder of my sister, Susan Storm." With that, two human mouths dropped to the floor.

* * *

*Evil Laughs* The ultimate cliffhanger! *Points finger at Lily* Blame her, she started me using cliffhangers! But anyways, hope you enjoyed! R&R! See ya~!


	6. Carnivals, Candy, and Confessions Pt 2

I'm so so so so sorry for the mega late posting! I'm hoping that the chapter itself will make up for it!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Annabelle and half of Ray, who also stars in _Cosmic Connection_.

Enjoy!

* * *

The two humans stared in pure astonishment. Ray was the first to snap out of the haze like trance, she shook her head momentarily trying to make one coherent thought. "Okay, seriously that's not funny Storm." Ray's emerald eyes bored into him waiting to say gotcha' or relieve the twisting feeling in the pit of her gut. "You're not kidding…are you?"

"No." The milky blonde teen sighed, not making eye contact with the girl.

"You…you lied to me." Reed stated, lifting his eyes from the ground, to show the fire burning in them. Everyone's eyes fell on the brown and white haired teen whose expression was beyond furious. Reed's honey eyes shifted to Annabelle, who cringed backward from the harsh gaze. "You lied to me too."

Annabelle's chocolate orbs glanced downward in shame, feeling the heat from the human teen's staring. Without any warning Reed took off in a dash, surprising everyone.

"Reed!" Annabelle squeaked, running after the brown and white haired human.

Reed pumped his arms and stretched his legs as much as he could, to put the desired distance between him and the others. The hot air burned his lungs, making it difficult to continue, but he was driven to stay away from the people he thought were his friends. The feeling of betrayal grasped his throat causing his breaths to turn into desperate pants.

"Reed!"

He glanced behind him to see the ebony haired beauty chasing after him, catching up rather quickly. "Crap."

Reed tried to pick up the speed to no avail, in a matter of seconds she had a hold of him by the shirt, pulling him backward, keeping him from running from her. "Reed, listen." She pleaded in her naturally soft tone. Her pale hand reached out to touch his shoulder to try and comfort his pained state, only for him to jerk away.

"No! You both lied to me! How could you! I trusted both of you!" He yelled, balling up his fists.

Annabelle looked off to the side, guilt squirming inside of her, and then her almond-shaped coffee eyes turned back at the human. "Reed he had to lie to you. Would you have helped him otherwise?"

"No! I wouldn't help a murderer!"

"He's innocent! He didn't do it Reed, Johnny got framed!" Annabelle screeched, trying to break through his thick skull, reminding her very much of a certain teen girl. "He came through the portal to escape being killed for a crime he didn't commit."

Reed's intense stare softened at the truth shining in the vampiress's eyes. "How do I know that?"

"Johnny may be rash and hot headed, but he's not a murderer. You've spent enough time with him to know that by now."

The gifted human stood in silence for a moment or two, and allowed a rush of air out of him, sounding like a deflating balloon. "Okay, I believe you…both of you, but don't you ever lie to me again."

Annabelle bobbed her head happily, a sweet smile on her cherry lips that looked even more innocent on her soft face. "Okay, now come on let's go get Johnny and Ray."

"Hold it."

The vampiress turned confusion clear on her face. "What is it?"

"Why did you come here? Aren't you in danger now too?"

Annabelle put her best genuine smile on her face. "If it was Ray who was in trouble, wouldn't you do anything to help her?"

The brown and white haired boy couldn't help but sigh. "Yeah, I would."

"Now let's go get them before they kill one another." Annabelle deadpanned, seeming to flinch slightly at the image of one of their heated disputes.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

Johnny rubbed the back of his neck, not quite sure to say to the quiet girl. She stood in front of him, completely motionless, her eyes never once glancing upward, having a look that suggested a serious debate was going on inside her mind. Her square white teeth gnawed into her pink lip with thought, and that's when Johnny cracked.

"I didn't kill my sister!" He practically blurted out, covering his mouth quickly after his out burst.

Ray blinked her green eyes once, before she released a small sigh. "I know."

"I know it's hard to….wait…WHAT!" Johnny's eyes widened at the statement. _"She believes me?"_

The nature girl chuckled lightly at the werewolf's dumbfounded expression. "I believe you Mutt."

It took a second for that to sink in. Johnny scanned that statement, searching for any speck of sarcasm or falsity, only to find none. He tilted his head looking at her doubtfully. "You...do?"

"Yeah…I mean you're not nearly smart enough to pull that kind of stunt off." She smirked, placing her hands on her hips.

The milky blonde teen rolled his cerulean eyes before smirking back, letting a small edge of sarcasm work its way into his voice. "Thanks Tree Hugger."

"No problem Mutt Face." Ray chuckled, noticing the sarcasm. This moment of wit, however, was cut short as the nature girl notice a presence coming from Johnny, a feeling of utter despair. Deciding that it would be best to speak no more of the subject, the human merely casted a sideways glance, hoping to avoid such an intense sensation.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

The two silently walked through the dense shrubbery, growing tried of waiting for their other companions. Navigating around the dark green, however, was proving to be difficult as night was fast approaching and the sky was unusually cloudy, veiling the moon from the two.

"Won't they, oh I don't know, DIE if we left them in the forest?" Johnny asked, exhausted and agitated from the day's events.

"Let'um since they abandoned us!" Ray shouted, equally tired and moreso irked. Their stroll of anger continued until they noticed a familiar structure, Reed's house.

"Finally! Egghead's come through for us!" The nature sensitive girl bellowed as she and the teenaged wolf raced to the building, only to come across a singular Annabelle sitting on top of the front porch.

"Annie, why…" Johnny trailed off while staring at his friend, who was currently humming a tune as her feet swung back and forth.

"Waiting on you two." Was her musical reply.

"Where's Reed?" Ray asked her partner.

"Inside." Another simple answer, this one emphasized by her pointing her thumb backwards.

"Great, so I can just go…." Before he could finish his sentence, the werewolf was stopped by his vampiric friend, whom was now standing.

"Reed said you can't come in now."

"Why not?" Johnny asked, both confused and a little ticked off.

"Because, and I quote, 'Even though I forgive Muttface for his lies, I'm still completely and utterly infuriated with him. Give me the remainder of the night to cool off and you can come back. In the meantime, stay with the girls.'" The vampire repeated in a tone that sounded awfully 'Reedish'.

"Meaning that…" Ray trailed off, "Great, I gotta put up with him for a whole night!" she finished, kicking imaginary pavement.

"Don't think I'm happy about this! Egghead is sooo gonna get it tomorrow!" The teen wolf exclaimed.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

Johnny tossed and turned violently on the velvet couch, the temporary bed that the girls had given him. His eyes were squeezed shut as perspiration formed onto his body. Outside, the low rumble of thunder and the shocking illumination of lightning were in near perfect sync with the werewolf's discomfort.

"No, stop." Johnny mumbled as the nightmare within burrowed into his very core.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"_Stupid vampire, made me lose all my money." The wolf grumbled as he walked home. Only minutes before had he and his best friend Annabelle engaged in a bet of who could last longer in a staring contest. Needless to say, the vampiress had been victorious._

"_She so cheated! How…I don't know, but she cheated!" Johnny explained to himself as he arrived to his house, a simple but cozy cottage-like abode. It looked big enough to accommodate a small family, yet small enough to keep one from feeling the loneliness and isolation one might experience in wide spaces._

"_Sis, I'm home!" the teen wolf shouted as he entered the door. However, it was not sound that greeted him, but an overpowering smell, a smell that reminded Johnny of something, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it._

"_Sis, you in here?" Johnny asked as he entered the kitchen. No traces of his sibling were to be found, instead the vile odor merely increased in power. It became so strong that the wolf had to cover his highly sensitive nose._

"_Sue, Sue!" the brother shouted, growing slightly anxious over his sister's absence. Cringing, Johnny released his nose, hoping to at least find her scent. Past the unfamiliar yet familiar aroma, the wolf finally found Susan's trail. He exited from the door in the kitchen, which led him into nearby woods. Johnny continued to follow his nose, ignoring the odd and instant urge to puke._

"_**Where is she?"**__ he thought to himself as he arrived to a location where the scent was the strongest. The werewolf scanned the foliage, finding no trace of his older sibling. Just as Johnny was about to leave, something on the ground caught his eye. The teen wolf turned to see…_

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"AHHH." Johnny shouted as he rose from the couch, his sweat forming a second skin and his eyes wide with terror, remembering exactly what happened next.

"_Her body…" _the wolf reminisced, _"I could barely recognize her." _He finished as liquid sorrow formed in his eyes. Remembering where he was, Johnny wiped the tears from his eyes. _"Stupid Hippie would get a huge kick seeing me like this." _The wolf gave a stale chuckle at the very idea of the nature girl seeing him in such a…vulnerable state. His thoughts were interrupted, however, with the loud crack of thunder. Yelping, Johnny childishly hid under his temporary blanket, finding any distraction from this torture. Memories flooded his mind again, only this time; these were recollections of happier times.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

_A five-year old Johnny stood outside the wooden door, fear evident in his innocent eyes._

"_Sissy." He shouted weakly, nature's ruckus outside preventing him from increasing the volume. After what felt like an entirety, the door finally creaked open, revealing a taller young woman with slightly messy golden locks._

"_Johnny?" she asked after a stifled yawn._

"_Ca-can I stay with you tonight?" Susan raised a questioning eyebrow at her brother, but the low rumble quickly answered all._

"_I don't see why not," she answered, ruffling his spiky hair, "Geez, when did your hair get so…fluffy?" she asked with a tiny chuckle._

"_The wadies wuv it." The little boy replied with a cheeky smile, causing his sister to burst out laughing._

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

_Susan opened her eyes slowly at the knocking of her door, the banging almost in sync with the drums of mother earth. She internally groaned as she opened the wooden board, but it quickly turned into a smile as she saw her brother, now fifteen-years old, forcing a smile through his shaking body._

"_Hey Sis." he greeted._

"_What is it Johnny?" she asked, "Repairing the lights or checking under the bed for thunder monsters." The comment caused the young werewolf to turn a bright red._

"_Come on, there's a spot on my bed." Susan chuckled as she gave her brother a quick wink. A relived smile came across the teen's face as he entered the room._

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"Storm. Storm. Storm! JOHNNY!" the werewolf was brought out of his memories by someone shout out his name. He removed the covers from his face to see Ray, standing in front of him with her hair down and in pajamas made out of a camisole and shorts.

"Why are you here Treehugger?" Johnny snarled.

"I live here, duh." Was the smart-alecky answer, causing the wolf teen to growl even more.

"I meant downstairs." He corrected himself, his temper flaring on the inside.

"Couldn't sleep, so I came downstairs. Saw you sitting up under the covers. Thought you became mummified or something. That answer good enough?" she asked sassily.

"Whatever." The wolf mumbled. After a few seconds of awkward silence, a loud crash was heard followed by a flash of light. Forgetting his company, Johnny screamed fearfully and hid under the covers. Remembering very quickly, Johnny removed the covers yet again and stared at the nature girl, whose sharp yet elegant face gave off a blank stare.

"I…I can totally explain!" The wolf teen shouted as if about to be arrested.

"So, Anna was right about you and thunderstorms." She half whispered.

"This-wait, what did Annie say?"

"It's Anna, and she already spilled about you being a huge scardycat, or should I say scardywolf," she chuckled at her pun, "whenever a storm rolls around."

"Annie." He grumbled, already plotting his revenge.

"She also told me," she continued, her tone a lot softer, "about how your sister would always comfort you during them." At this, Johnny's faced softened into one of deep hurt. Ray noticed that she had struck a sensitive nerve, and thought of anything to break the heightening tension.

"Alright, since neither of us can sleep, to the kitchen." She demanded, pulling Johnny, who was at the moment too depressed to protest, into said room. The nature girl grabbed two cups from the dish drainer, a carton of milk, and two pouches of Cocoa mix. After several minutes, Johnny noticed that a mug had been placed before him with steam erupting from the brown liquid.

"Do they even have hot chocolate in the Monster World?" Ray asked the wolf with a chuckle. Johnny merely shot her an annoyed glare.

"Yes. The only thing we don't have is pizza…and cars." He added before taking a sip of the hot liquid, feeling the warm substance cascade through his throat. "Thanks." He mumbled after his gulp.

"No prob. My dad would always make me some when I thought about my mom." Was the nature girl's reply, her face gaining a sad smile. There was another long pause, but not one of awkwardness, but more like a moment of silence.

"I'm sorry." Johnny whispered, getting the hint as to what happened to Ray's mother.

"Thanks." Was her simple whisper. The werewolf was thinking of a way to change the subject, when a thought occurred.

"Why are you being nice to me? I thought the truce was-"

"I'm considering the truce still on for the night."

"Oh, okay." He muttered weakly.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

Johnny gently opened his eyes, slight darkness still enveloping them. The still groggy wolf noticed a pressure on his lower torso. He felt around the object to detect that it was another body. Johnny slightly lifted his head to receive a face full of chestnut hair.

"_Treehugger?" _he thought to himself as he lifted to a sitting position, careful as to not wake the nature girl. Johnny looked and saw that they had returned to the living at a time the werewolf couldn't remember.

"Ow." He mumbled to himself while cracking his stiff joints. After letting out a yawn, Johnny lifted Ray over his shoulder and trudged up the stairs, stopping in front of her room. The teen wolf took notice of how the room seemed to divide in the middle. On one side was a snoozing Annabelle covered in a black comforter with lavender roses. Her walls were decorated with cartoonish skulls and broken hearts, while the dresser and floor was clean as a whistle

The other side held Ray's empty bed with a simple lime green sheet set. Her walls were white with neon green vines running through the area. A hoodie and shorts littered the floor, but the rest was spick and span. Johnny lowered the nature girl into the green blanket and tucked the material to her chin. As the werewolf took notice of the sight, he felt a slight shudder go through his body.

"_Ick, I feel so __**wrong **__being nice to Treehugger, I need to do something to balance out the universe." _He thought just before an idea formed in his wolfish mind.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"Ug." Ray moaned softly as she lifted the comforter off of her eyes. As she sorted through her groggy thoughts, the nature girl recollected the events of last night and the vulnerable looking Johnny.

"_Maybe he's not a complete jerk?" _she thought to herself as she rose to a sitting position, only to be met with a bucket to her head. The bucket's clear liquid splashed all over Ray, drenching her bed and pajamas.

"_Never mind!" _she grumbled to herself, then shouted, "STORM!"

"The Universe has been balanced!" He shouted from downstairs.

"That's it, you're dead!" she shouted back, getting ready for a chase scene.

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"Are you telling me you're still unable to find either of them?" the dark figure asked a goblin in a calm, yet irritated tone.

"Well, all of our scouts have gone missing, so we weren't able to retrieve any information." the creature stuttered, expecting a blast any minute. He was surprised to only see his master looking at the contents of his desk.

"While it would be rather lovely to display Jonathan in a show of torture, I'll give him a chance to 'leave the stage' like I did his sister." The figure slightly chortled.

* * *

Dun dun dunnn! Has Susan's true murderer been revealed? Will Johnny and the others ever catch them? Were Ray and Johnny actually being nice to each other, even if it was only for a night?

Yeah, sorry for the questions, just felt like doing it, lol ^^'. AS for that last statement by the mystery person, bit of a Higurashi reference. You'll find a similar quote by Rika on my profile.

So, how was it? Good? Bad? Ugly? Pretty? Tell me in a review!

Bye Bye~!


	7. Talent Shows and Revelations

Hello my wonderful readers! Here is another chapter of Through the Portal! Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own FF:WGH or any labels used in this fic. I only co-own Annabelle and Ray with white-lily15.

Enjoy~!

* * *

The figure sat alone in the well decorated room, the darkness shielding everything save for his impious emerald eyes. Before him were two files that held the pictures of a werewolf and a vampire.

"Hmm, this is taking much longer than I had hoped," the figure mumbled to himself, "I had assumed that a direct attack would have been effective, but so far all of my fighters have either ended up dead or missing." He sighed as he closed both files with the wave of his hand. In his chair, the figure turned to a wicked looking goblet. The chalice was as black as the aurora it presented, save for the ruby colored gems that adorned its surface. The figure lifted the cup with his bare hand, giving off a slight chuckle.

"Maybe this indirect approach will work." He whispered with a slight smirk, showing off his piercing fangs.

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"I said I was sorry Treehugger! Be happy you even got that!" Johnny shouted to Ray in the hallways.

"Gee, do you think I was 'happy' when I had to re-clean my sheets cuz of your little prank?" The nature girl replied, ticked off. Not too far behind, another conversation occurred between Annabelle and Reed.

"They're at it again." The vampire stated in a slight babyish tone.

"I would be surprised if they weren't." the human stated rather calmly.

"That reminds me, what did you figure out about your powers?" Annabelle asked with both childish curiosity and speech.

"Well, right now I'm lucky if I can move a vase," Reed replied while rubbing his neck sheepishly, "How I was able to move you the other night is a mystery." He added.

"Are you trying to say something Reedy?" the vampiress pouted. The question immediately sent the human in defense mode, waving his hands in front of him.

"No no no, I was just saying that-"

"Kidding!"

"That I meant…what?"

"I was kidding, you take things way too seriously Reedy, it needs to stop." Annabelle replied cheerfully, giving the shocked student a light karate chop on the head.

"Right," Was his bashful response, the human didn't think much more about it until a thought came to mind, "Reedy?" was his innocent question.

"Uh huh, I like the sound of it, so it's my new nickname for you, like how Ray calls me 'Anna'." Replied the vampiress sweetly.

"I'm gonna kill you Storm!"

"I'd love to see you try Hippie!" Johnny shouted back.

"Oh boy, those two are really mad at each other huh?" Annabelle asked while turning towards the arguing two. Reed continued to stare at the vampire, wondering as to how this girl can act so innocent, yet so deadly at the same time. It puzzled the student greatly and invaded his thoughts until said girl stopped in front of him, causing him to nearly fall face first.

"Annie, a little warning next time?" Reed asked the vampire, only to receive silence. The student looked at the girl, seeing the blank, yet fearful look in her eyes. Quickly, she speed walked over to the arguing wolf and human, grabbing the former by the back of his leather jacket.

"What gives Annie?" Johnny asked, clearly confused.

"Your argument is on hold until further notice." Was the reply as she dragged the werewolf to the spot she had just left, right in front of a glass display case. "Look." Annabelle commanded as the wolf followed the order, gaining a terrified look as he did so.

"We're screwed." He stated bluntly as the two (utterly confused) humans looked at them.

"We were screwed the moment you came here." Ray muttered right before said werewolf grabbed her by the arm, dragging her towards the case.

"That's the Nosferatu Goblet." Johnny exclaimed, the nature girl getting a slightly annoyed look.

"Ohh, that sounds so scary…." The female stated sarcastically.

"Remember, we're humans, we have no idea what you're talking about." Reed explained, earning a look from both monsters.

"The Nosferatu Goblet…" Annabelle started, taking in a small breath while turning to the cup, "is a mystical item that drastically increases the powers and abilities of vampires. Everything from speed to stamina is boosted."

"Well, isn't that a good thing, you two are acting like you've seen another guard." The psychic human declared.

"Because, every vampire that's used the goblet has been deemed insane and unfit for society." The vampiress calmly replied, earning a gulp from the humans.

"Wait, how does that affect Muttface over here?" Ray asked. Annabelle glanced at the teen wolf, who nodded in agreement. Looking around the hallway, which was surprisingly empty, Johnny edged towards the glass wall, stretching out his hand as if to touch the transparent surface. Suddenly, a spark entered the wolf's hand, forcing him to retreat his hand, which now held his blackened claws. Johnny's ears and fangs were sticking out of their respective homes; shocking all standing there, save for Annie.

"The goblet's other ability is to dissolve and reveal a monster's human disguise." Was her simple answer. The 'guinea wolf' quickly switched back to his human form, rubbing his shocked hand.

"So let me get this straight, that cheap cup right there can turn Anna bonkers and you into a furball?" The nature girl asked, flinging her arms in the air.

"Yep Hippie." Johnny replied, earning a glare from the girl.

"Well, we need to avoid that thing like the plague!" Ray exclaimed.

"NO! We need to destroy it!" Annabelle shouted, eyeing the trinket with malice and hatred, puzzling the girl.

"We can't do either unless we win the talent show," Reed calmly stated, earning a look from the other three, "its first prize." He added, pointing to the sign that corroborated him.

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"Now that the Goblet is in position, it should only be a matter of time until both of the renegades are in my possession." The dark figure chuckled before the giant doors opened to reveal a guard.

"My lord the subjects are ready for you." The green creature stated, bowing as he did so.

"Excellent." The figure replied before exiting the room, past the grand decorations and furniture. This stroll continued until he reached another door, opening it with a mere finger to reveal a balcony, where only another guard stood. The figure entered into the light from the sun, showing his slicked back raven hair and emerald orbs that held cruelty and sadism. He was dressed in a noble-like outfit, complete with a long flowing cape that matched his eyes The guard turned outside the balcony, where what looked like thousands of people waited below.

"Ladies and gentlemen, monsters of all ages, I present to you your king and ruler, Lord Victor von Doom!" the statement received a thunderous applause from down below, causing Victor to chortle with wicked gaiety.

"They're under my thumb, there's no chance for you, either of you." He mumbled before he waved to the crowd.

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"NO, no no no no NO!" Ray shouted to the monsters and human in front of her.

"Raaaaaayyyyyy." Reed smiled sickly sweet encircling his arm around the nature girl's waist, pulling her into his side. "You're the only one who can sing."

"NO!"

"You're the only who can enter and actually stand a chance of winning." The vampiress added putting on her own puppy dog eyes. "Pwetty pwease with sugar on top?"

"Anna!" The brunette whined, her shoulders dropping from their normal position.

"Just shut up and do it Tree Hugger." Johnny grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest, ignoring the green eyes that began to burn into him.

"You know I don't like being in front of huge crowds!"

"But Ray-" Reed began before the nature girl yanked from his tight hold around her waist.

Then a series of events unfolded in slow motion before the four monster fighters. Ray lunged forward only to trip over Annabelle's black converse covered foot, forcing her body to fling forward, making a direct course to collide with the hard ground. Annabelle tried to snag the girl only for her pale hands to be out of reach.

"Johnny, catch her!" Annabelle shouted, jogging the wolf from his day dreaming state.

The wolf's eyes flashed forward to see the rapidly falling female, who was sure to end up with a busted nose. So the wolf reacted instinctually launching himself forward to grasp her by her forearms to push her body back into an upright position. This was a perfectly innocent gesture that ended up doing something very unpredictably.

A mysterious warmth covered the milky blonde's lips, him having no idea what the source was since his eyes were shut out of reaction. Subconsciously Johnny pressed his mouth tighter against the wonderful heat source, enjoying the effect it took on his body. He let his body follow suit, pressing further against the addictive sense.

"_This feels good." _He thought innocently, once again shuffling closer.

Ray obliged with the mysterious warmth by pressing herself against it, allowing her lips to follow suit, while her fingers curled around an unknown material. Letting her lips move with the heat, her eyes were closed blinding her to anything.

"OH MY!" Annabelle gasped, her chocolate eyes widening at the scene before her.

Johnny and Ray's eyes snapped open at the sudden out burst letting them see before them the situation they were in. Johnny had his arms fully around the nature curl's curvy form; Ray had her hands completely fisted in his classic orange flame shirt, and their bodies molded to each other while their lips were cemented against the others. Both of their eyes widened and instantly their mouths separated; leaving two beet red teens looking at the other astonished.

"_Did I just kiss Storm!" _Ray thought, her cheeks growing redder by the second.

"_I kissed Tree Hugger! And…I…liked it…"_

Reed's mouth resided permanently on the floor, while the two stared at the other still unable to untangle themselves from the situation. Slowly Annabelle stepped over to the two frozen teenagers and cleared her throat slightly causing their heads to snap over to her, though still to releasing the other since their bodies became immobile.

"Ray will you do this for me?" The raven haired beauty questioned, still eyeing the predicament.

Gradually the nature girl's fists released the werewolf's shirt and pulled out of his arms, her eyes planted on the white tile floor. Her emerald eyes flashed over to the still frozen wolf before looking at the vampiress.

"Yeah." She answered in a sigh. Her response granted her a giant hug from Annabelle.

"Thank you so so much!" she shouted, nearly crushing the nature girl.

"Its fine, but you're squishing me Anna." Ray breathed out, feeling as if she was in an octopus's grasp. While the girls were hugging, Reed walked over to the still frozen wolf teen, waving a hand over him.

"Hello, Earth to Wolf Boy. Johnny! Johnny!" The psychic human exclaimed, hoping to get a reaction out of the petrified monster. Johnny finally blinked and shook his head, as if trying to remove something from his cranium.

"You okay?" Reed asked puzzled.

"Fi-fine, I'm perfectly fine." The wolf stuttered, still partially in a trance.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"Think of something!" The brown and white haired teen yelled frustration sharp on his features.

"I got nothing!" Ray rebelled, throwing her hands in the air and promptly slamming her forehead on the key board in front of her. "Why does it have to be original?" The nature girl began a repetitive pattern of slamming her forehead against the ivory and black keys causing a symphony of mixed notes to ring through the air.

"Because originality wins, and Ray, please don't do that, that keyboard is expensive." The nerd coddled slightly, grabbing the back of the tensing female's shoulders and gently pulling her into a sitting position; feeling her muscles tighten in her back. "Ray?"

Softly the brunette pulled her shoulders from the male's grasps and gathered her scattered leaves of notebook paper with various symbols scattered on their white surfaces. Annabelle raised an eyebrow as the girl departed the room with a huff.

"I need some air." She grumbled, shoving passed an entering Johnny who stumbled a few steps back from her abrupt exit.

The milky blonde wolf raised an eyebrow at her retreating figure then looked at a concerned Reed and Annabelle. "What's with Hippie?"

"Writer's block?" The vampiress shrugged, concern etched into her eyes. Swiftly the concern was replaced with a devious grin on the red lips of his friend. "So..you looked like you enjoyed that kiss.."

"I did not! It was an accident!" The werewolf protested, fighting the building heat in his cheeks.

"I could see it if you kissed then jerked apart, but you pulled her in."

"Lies! Nothing but lies!" The wolf cried dramatically.

"Really, because we have a You Tube video that says otherwise." Annabelle smiled cheekily, embracing the enraged glare in the wolf's baby blues.

"Yep, it's surprisingly popular with over one million hits." Reed added, raising the camcorder that had captured the black mail filled scene.

Johnny growled lowly in his throat before blurring abruptly from the room set on finding a certain brunette to have some kind of arsenal against the duo.

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The wolf slowed his blur to a simple walk down the quiet hall, following the honey and rose scent that was beginning to thicken in the air. Johnny grimaced at the fact he knew this female's scent by memory, but reassured himself by the fact he also knew Annabelle's sugary scent and Reed's minty mixed with ink. Abruptly the soft strum of guitar strings flowed into the werewolf's ever sensitive ears followed by the sound of a soft feminine tone singing a few words.

"_**I just entered this brand new world, and I'm so open hearted.  
I know I've got a long way to go, but I, I'm just getting started."**_

The wolf's eyes slightly widened at the softness in her voice as each word formed. Eventually Johnny leaned against the open doorway of her room watching her delicate fingers move the guitar strings in a particular pattern. Her voice humming lightly in her throat while her emerald eyes scanned scattered papers around her sitting form. Ray sat in the middle of the floor, white sheets encircling her, while her hair was loose around her back. The girl continued her tweaking of rhythm until her eyes flashed to a slightly pulsating green plant, then her gaze landed on Johnny.

"Come on in Storm; if you're gonna watch me at least do it in here." The nature girl sighed, resting the guitar next to her leg.

Gradually Johnny slinked into the room, rubbing the back of his neck rather embarrassed with being caught while curiosity ate at him. "How do you do that? Is it like an echo location thing like bats do or what?"

"If your near nature I can sense you, and.." She trailed off pointing to a small potted plant near the wolf's foot.

"Oh."

"Yep." Ray replied awkwardly popping the 'p'.

"Sooo….um….."

"Did you want to say something?" The brunette inquired standing to her own feet, dusting her gray sweat pants off.

"I….uh…." Johnny swiftly bent down and snatched a piece of music off the carpeted floor, waving it frantically in the air. "What this note mean? Does this repeat? How did you come up with this? Did you-"

"Storm." Ray growled firmly, placing her hands on her hips, simultaneously stopping the werewolf's continuous blabbering.

Johnny froze while those emerald eyes were stuck on him and eventually sighed deeply. "Good luck tomorrow."

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Johnny thrashed in his slumber, the white sheets thickly entangling with his body while his mind continued to create images he wished it wouldn't. He kept seeing Ray's light pink lips parted in preparation for his to meet hers. He could practically feel their soft texture moving passionately against his own, and could feel his fingers tangling with those soft brunette locks of hers.

In a flash the wolf shot up in his bed growling at all the mental images that had formed in his mind. "Stupid Tree Hugger! Get out of my head!" He roared, ignoring Reed's squeal of surprise as he fell out of the bed.

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"This. Sucks!" Johnny groaned as he, Annabelle, and Reed sat in the second row of the auditorium, watching act after act perform on the grand stage before them.

"I thought that girl with the keyboard and that one guy were pretty good." The vampiress added, referring to a girl that had sung Lights's _Saviour _while playing her keyboard and a man that had performed The Ready Set's _Young Forever_.

"Kill me now!" The wolf had practically shouted as the next act was being announced.

"Now presenting Ray McGuire!" The MC, the head Music teacher, stated, earning an applause from the crowd.

"Yey! Ray's up!" Annie exclaimed.

"Whatever." The teenage werewolf grumbled, still bugged about last night's dream. The curtain opened to reveal Ray standing behind the microphone stand. The vampiress crossed both sets of fingers, Reed made the praying motion with his hands, and Johnny…well, Johnny looked stunned at the nature girl's appearance.

"_She looks like…like a girl!"_ the wolf shouted in his head. The girl on stage looked like the polar opposite of everybody's favorite sarcastic female human, with her hair down in wavy curls and clad in a white form fitting tank top under a leather jacket, jean skirt, and long leather boots that reached her thighs. _"Oh crap…she's hot!" _Johnny thought as the tinniest bit of blood reached the corner of his nostril. Ray proceeded to the mic, grabbing the technological stick into her hand. The voice that entered the speakers was one of elegance, yet attitude.

"_**I can make the rain stop if I wanna, just by my attitude. **_

_**I can take my laptop, record a snapshot, and change a point of view."**_

The audience sat in silence at the nature girl's voice, captivated to stay.

"Wow, looks like Ray can really sing." The vampiress stated to a calm psychic human and a paralyzed teen wolf.

"Yep, Ray loves singing, just not in crowds." Reed stated, cheering on his best friend. _  
_

"_**I just entered this brand new world, and I'm so open hearted.  
I know I've got a long way to go, but I, I'm just getting started.**_

_**I'm over my head and I know it, I know it.  
I'm doin' my best not to show it, to show it.  
Whatever it takes to be what I was meant to be, I'm gonna try!  
'Cuz I'm livin' the dream and I know it, I know it.  
I'm tryin' my best not to blow it, to blow it.  
And I know everything will be fine with me, myself and time."**_

With the conclusion of the chorus, the audience was still in amazed shock.

"Go Ray!" both human and monster shouted, leaving a puzzled Johnny silent.

"_She's…good." _was his simple thought.

"_**I go where life takes me but somedays it makes me, wanting to change my direction.  
Sometimes it gets lonely but I know that it's only, a matter of my perception."**_

"_**I just entered this brand new world, and I'm so open hearted.  
I know I've got a long way to go, but I, I'm just getting started.**_

_**I'm over my head and I know it, I know it.  
I'm doin' my best not to show it, to show it.  
Whatever it takes to be what I was meant to be, I'm gonna try!  
'Cuz I'm livin' the dream and I know it, I know it.  
I'm tryin' my best not to blow it, to blow it.  
And I know everything will be fine with me, myself and time."**_

"She likes writing her own songs, she's just too nervous to actually perform." Reed explained matter-of-factly.

"Wow, never knew Ray could get nervous." Annabelle replied before looking at her wolfish companion, still totally silent.

"_Why isn't he saying anything?" _she thought before looking back at her partner.

_**"And baby there's nothing like this moment, so just be real and let the truth be spoken.  
Whatever's broke, I can make it unbroken.  
Turn the lead in my hand into something golden.  
Just try, more love. If I just try, more love.  
Then I'll find myself in timeeeeeeeeee!"**_

"_**I'm over my head and I know it, I know it.  
I'm doin' my best not to show it, to show it.  
Whatever it takes to be what I was meant to be, I'm gonna try!  
'Cuz I'm livin' the dream and I know it, I know it.  
I'm tryin' my best not to blow it, to blow it.  
And I know everything will be fine with me, myself and time."**_

As Ray started off the ending, her voice lowered to a mere whisper.

_**"I'll find myself in time.  
I know I'll find myself…In time."**_

The crowd was silent for several minutes as the nature girl panted slightly. This silence, however, was ceased by an applause that would make Thor and Zeus quiver.

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"And now, the winner of this year's East High Talent Show is…" the music teacher started, gaining anticipation from the audience and competitors, especially one very nervous Ray.

"Come on Ray." Annie whispered.

"Ray, Ray, Ray, Ray!" Reed chanted while crossing his fingers. Johnny was still next to them, not saying a word.

"Ray McGuire!" was the announcement. Earsplitting cheer echoed through the stage, catching the MC off guard. A grinning Ray appeared on the stage, gladly accepting the Nosferatu Goblet.

"Alright Ray!" The psychic human shouted along with the vampiress. The teenage wolf was still silent, but portrayed a near microscopic grin.

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"How's this Anna?" Ray asked her vampiric partner. Currently, she was keeping her hands in a lowered position, and it seemed as if the trees surrounding them were lowering themselves.

"Perfect." Was the simple reply. The Nosferatu Goblet was lying in the middle of the giant opening outside Reed's house. Each of the members were in a diamond position around the goblet. "Alright Reedy." Annabelle commanded, allowing the psychic student to lift his hands with a slight blue aura. The trinket gained the same aura and lifted with Reed's hands.

"I get why you need Egghead to lift the thing, so you won't touch it, but why Treehugger?" Johnny asked with his hands firmly in his pockets as a relaxing breeze blew through.

"Because Muttface, people are more relaxed if their environment is relaxing, and Anna needs all the relaxing vibes she can get." The nature girl explained irritated.

"Why don't you shut up Hippie!" The teen wolf growled.

"Johnny, don't you take your anger out on Ray!" The vampiress shouted, earning a flinch from the wolf.

"What's got you so touchy?"

"Sorry about Johnny, it's just that…well; this is sort of a confirmation for us." Annie stated darkly.

"What does it confirm?" the human girl asked.

"There's only one Nosferatu Goblet in existence, and we know who possessed it. If he sent it, then not only is he the killer, but the one sending all of the monsters after us."

"Who's that?" This was followed by a small sigh from the vampire.

"The ruler, or dictator, of our world, Lord Victor von Doom. He's…"

"Excuse me, sorry to interrupt, but not all of us can use our powers for a long time." Reed strained. The two girls looked at the human boy and noticed the sweat forming on his brow.

"Right right, I'll explain more later. Right now, let's destroy this thing!" The raven haired vampire shouted. She then raised her ebony blade over her head, the dark material gleaming in the moonlight. Then, in one fast movement, the sword was slashed through the goblet, reacting in a mini explosion.

The shock wave surged through the four soaring backward, everyone went plummeting to the ground, and then suddenly their falls were softened by a sudden extension of grass blades whipping out and grasping the four around the mid-sections. With neon green glowing hands Ray manipulated the blades to sit everyone upright gracefully, leaving everyone unharmed. A soft growl left the girl as she plucked a chunk of the cup from her hair and chucked the sliver of black metal in another direction.

"Stupid goblet!" She hissed, running a hand through her loose locks.

Annabelle giggled softly at the nature girl's antics, followed by Reed's small chuckle that made the scowl on the brunette's face soften considerably.

"Nice catch." Reed noted ruffling her hair affectionately. "And nice song. You deserved that trophy er….goblet."

"Thanks."

"You rocked Ray! I'm so proud of you!" The vampiress squealed embracing the teen girl in another back braking embrace.

Johnny, however, tuned out the conversations being exchanged between the three. His baby blue eyes remained trained on the light pink pair of lips that had haunted his dreams, and began to pull on the wolf. This drove him insane! He had met her a month ago and they hadn't stopped fighting since! This was crazy!

"_Stupid Tree Hugger! No, no, no, no, no! I don't wanna…I want to…"_

The wolf's train of thought stopped abruptly as he marched over to the talking teen girl's fury and determination in his tense shoulders. Reed eyed his approaching form warily, causing Annabelle to stop in mid statement. Harshly the wolf grabbed the brunette by her arm and yanked her into him. He dully heard the sharp snarl that left her as he remained trained on one feature on her face.

"What the crap Storm!" She growled, narrowing her emerald eyes.

Johnny's serious expression never left him as he slightly growled. "Shut up and kiss me."

Ray's eyes widened at the statement and began to respond when his mouth crashed down on her own, effectively shutting the nature girl up. To keep her from pulling away he ensnared her waist with one arm and snaked his free hand into her chocolate locks, keeping her locked against him. He was going to get rid of this nagging urge even if he had to keep her there the rest of the night. The human girl's lips remained frozen against his warm ones that moved softly against her still mouth. Gradually though the comfortable warmth that had been brought to her attention at school resurfaced, causing the female's green eyes begin to droop slightly. Then it was the wolf's turn to be caught off guard at the feeling of a pair of lips moving with his own. He cracked one azure eye open to see the nature girl's closing; Ray fisted her right hand into his orange shirt pulling him closer to her while her other tangled into his blonde hair. Johnny swiftly closed his eyes and tightened his hold on her, molding their bodies against each others, and growling softly in his throat at her fingers tightening in his hair.

Annabelle and Reed watched in pure shock as the twos kisses became longer and harder. Eventually, the brown and white haired teen shook his head to clear the thoughts circulating in his head. Loudly the psychic human cleared his throat, causing the two kissers to pull back swiftly; as if reality hit them on whom they were kissing.

"Are you two done?" The raven haired vampire giggled softly at the flustered looks on both teens.

"I…um…" Ray began, but drifted off a blush lightly dusting her cheeks.

"Uh…" Johnny breathed, gaining the same tint to his face. Abruptly thought his façade came back to the front. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"What are you talking about! You two practically made out in front of us!" Reed screeched, throwing his arms in the air dramatically.

"Whatever, let's go Egghead."

His tone made Ray narrow her eyes as she gritted her teeth. "Yeah, nothing happened. See you at home Anna." She grumbled, throwing the wolf a glare, who more than gladly returned it. "See ya Reed…..Mutt."

"Hopefully not Tree Hugger."

The brown and white haired teen exchanged confused stares as the four split into their respective groups and departed from the clearing.

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Ray fell face first onto her comfortable bed, hiding her grounding teeth and flushed cheeks in the pillow's surface. Annabelle watched as the girl shot up and stomped into the restroom, slamming the door soon after. The nature girl splashed some water on her burning face, desperately trying to clear the thoughts of Johnny kissing her from her head.

"Stupid wolf." She muttered, placing her forehead against the cold porcelain sink. "Idiot."

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Johnny who was also in the restroom stared into the mirror taking in his burning face, swiftly he splashed cold water onto his rapidly heating skin.

"Crap, why isn't she out of my head!" He snarled, hitting his head once against the sink. "She's nothing but a stupid Tree Hugger, who happens to be a good kisser! It's nothing but lust Johnny, nothing but lust."

The wolf kept repeating this mantra, trying to push the kiss from his mind and epically failing.

Reed listened silently to his friend's rants and sighed. He knew that they would act as if nothing happened, but something had and it changed something between the two.

* * *

Well, there you have it! Our mystery figure is finally revealed! You probably thought Reed and Johnny were gonna be the only characters I used in this, but nope!

Also, the song Ray sang is officially called "Me, Myself, and Time" by Demi Lavato in case you were curious.

See ya~!


	8. A Slithering Situation

Hello people! Here's the latest chapter of Through the Portal!

Disclaimer: We own nothing, save for our OC's, Ray and Annabelle!

Enjoy~!

* * *

Victor folded his hands delicately underneath his chin, admiring the snap shots before him of four teenagers. His emerald gaze narrowed considerably as he read the information at his disposal thanks to the many guards that had been slinking about on the other side of the portal.

"Well played, well played children." He chortled darkly, letting his eyes to linger longer on that of the black haired vampiress. "Especially you Annabelle my dear, without you this entire operation would fall at the seams." The vampire overlord smirked, delicately picking up a single picture examining the figure caught by the film. "Too bad you have a gaping weakness in your defenses, guard!"

A goblin blurred into the room in a streak of green, landing before his master, head bowed, and eyes glued to the expensive carpet beneath his feet. "Yes, my lord?"

"Send the Basilisk." Victor ordered, never allowing his burning line of sight leave the picture.

The guard's head snapped upward, gaining a look of confusion upon his features. "My lord?"

"We have a certain leaf in need of burning." The dictator supplied, finally resting the flimsy slice of film on the mahogany desk before him.

Upon its surface was the image of a brunette girl with leaf green eyes.

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"Give it!" Johnny roared, trying to snatch the rectangular device from the nature girl's hand.

"No way am I sitting and watching hours of girls in bikinis!" The brunette protested, stretching her arm further away from her body.

Currently the four teenagers were in Reed's home trying to watch some mind numbing television after a day of brain frying school, but 'trying' is the key word isn't it? Of course Johnny didn't like what Ray had placed on the television for everyone to watch; which happened to be a favorite show of the blonde; he just wanted to fight with the teen girl. Ray allowed a fierce growl to leave her pink tinted lips, leaning further back against the arm of the couch so as to escape the werewolf's groping hand.

"Give it Tree Hugger!"

"No way Mutt!"

"Ah!"

"Ah!"

Annabelle and Reed simultaneously sweet dropped at the scene of Johnny lunging forward, knocking the green eyed female over the arm of the couch, and tackling her to the floor still trying to grab the remote as they shouted continuous insults at the other.

"You wouldn't think that a week ago they practically made out in front of us would you?" The vampiress sighed, rubbing her temples in a soothing manner.

"I wouldn't think that they thought the other one could kiss right now." Reed noted, watching with mild amusement at Ray snapping her teeth at the wolf's hand. "You two done yet?"

"No!"

The brown and white haired teen groaned, lolling his head backward so that his golden gaze rested on the white ceiling on the structure. With determination blazing in the nerd's eyes he stalked forward, snatched the remote from the brunette's bone crushing grasp and clicked a random channel on the TV hoping to shut the bickering duo up.

"Now shut up!" He roared, only to find the other occupants of the room stare at him blankly, their eyes focusing on the screen behind him.

Slowly the psychic male turned and clicked up the volume, frowning heavily at the announcement.

"_A string of disappearances have been reported over the past few days. Leaving no evidence behind other than a pungent odor of sulfur."_

"Sulfur, what the crap?" Ray questioned, whacking the blue eyed male's body away from her own, so as to prevent him actually touching her.

"What's wrong Hippie afraid of a little snake?" The werewolf questioned, mocking her with the babyish tone he portrayed and the cocky smirk that made her scowl.

"Shut it Storm! And what do you mean snake?"

"A basil….OUCH ANNIE!" Johnny whined while rubbing the back of his now soar head that Annabelle had hit with a thick dictionary. "What was that for?"

"No reason." She rumbled, her eyes dancing with worry as they landed on the puzzled brunette. "I was just thinking it'd be best if one of us is with Ray and Reed at all times. Ya know, just in case."

"I call Egghead."

"Like I'd want you anyway." Ray growled, latching her arm firmly with the vampiress's.

"That's not what it seemed like a week ago. I didn't have you pegged as the lip gloss type." He smirked, knowing that she knew perfectly well what he was implying. "I wonder how many boys found that out the way I did."

Ray's cheeks gained a furious blush as she narrowed her emerald eyes that had gained a foreign sheen to them. "SCREW YOU JOHNNY STORM!"

With that the nature girl stormed up the stairs, shoving her shoulder past that of the now silent wolf, and slammed the door of her bedroom behind her. Johnny ground his teeth then let a growl loose that would make anyone's hair stand on end.

"YOU WISH MCGUIRE!"

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The young couple's laughter rang in the night time's warm air as the blonde female wrapped her arms snuggly around that of her red headed date. The two continued their romantic stroll down the vacant street of New York when the sudden odor of sulfur hit their noses. Without warning a small hiss was heard from the dark depths of the alleyway before a feminine scream run out into the night.

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"_Nicolas Knight disappeared last night somewhere the times of two and three in the morning. If anyone has information on the man's disappearance please call the local authorities."_ The news woman reported professionally to the camera.

"Wow, those are getting more frequent." The teen human noted, gathering his numerous notes into his book bag while his werewolf companion had a blank look upon his face. Reed arched an eyebrow at the blonde's abnormal expression and how Johnny's eyes remained trained on the now blank television screen. "Something wrong?"

"Uh..no…it's nothing." Was the solemn response that met Reed's ears.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's nothing Egghead. Let's go, Annie'll kill me if we're late." The milky blonde uttered, while slinging his leather jacket on.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"Annabelle I can go to the restroom by myself!" Ray protested, shaking her arm that the vampires now clung to.

"But-"

"No buts! You've been glued to my side ever since you saw that news story, and I want some answers now!"

"I…."

"Already yelling this early in the morning Hippie? I thought Tree Huggers were supposed to be easy going?" Was the snarky response that cut off Annabelle's nervous answer.

Ray's emerald eyes narrowed at the sight of Johnny Storm leaning against the nearest wall, and Reed looking curiously between the two wondering who would throw the first punch. If looks could kill the spiky haired male would have been ten feet under.

"And I thought that dogs were supposed to be kept on leashes."

Sapphire eyes narrowed considerably at the fuming female and a scoff left the werewolf's lips before his eyes landed on something that would surely get his mind off things. With a smirk the teen male whisked away to a giggling red head that had caught his eye, causing the brunette to snarl once before turning sharply on her heal to depart.

"Moron."

"Ray wait up!" Annabelle squeaked, scurrying after her partner.

Reed couldn't help but tilt his head at the weirdness of the whole situation. Annabelle and Ray were friends, practically sisters, and did almost everything together; but he never saw the black haired beauty act in such a way.

"Hey, Johnny what's up with Annabelle?" Questioned the nerd, but he soon sweat dropped at the sight of the wolf making out with the girl he had whisked away to talk to. "Geez." He groaned, knowing that this was becoming a routine thing.

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History class, the time to learn of the past, and of the events that molded the present.

Johnny hated this class.

His azure eyes drooped with sleepiness, while he stared blankly at the teacher who was droning on in a monotone voice; oblivious to the wolf's nodding off state. The milky blonde was just about to allow his heavy head to hit the desk when a white slip of paper was slapped onto the desk before him, curiously his eyes lifted to the annoyed look of Mr. Sanders.

"Office Mister Storm. You want to sleep, sleep in there." The balding man insisted in a firm tone; contrasting Johnny's 'are you serious' expression.

"Like I'm the only one sleeping?" The blue eyed man growled lightly gesturing to the teen male sitting next to him, snoring.

"Office!"

"Fine Baldy!"

"And stay in there!"

"Gladly!"

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"What the crap did I just do?" Johnny groaned, tilting his head back in a sighing fashion while waltzing into the open office area.

Slowly he righted his now throbbing head and approached the long black counter that separated the secretary area from the waiting area. The blonde tapped his fingers annoyingly against the smooth surface, until he heard foot steps approaching.

"What do you- Storm?" Ray puzzled, approaching the counter.

"Sanders kicked me out and said to come in here." The wolf mumbled, nimbly handing the white slip to the brunette female behind the counter. "Didn't know you worked in here this period; I would have skipped or something."

Ray growled lightly in her throat before rolling her emerald orbs, then scanning the parchment. "It says you were being disruptive."

"I was nodding off, while the rest of the class was in dream land."

"Sure, but take a seat until the bell rings." She droned on, sliding the slip into a folder, and snatching up a phone that had just rang. "East High School." Her voice gained an overly cheery coating that made the wolf snicker, earning a small glare from the female. "Hang on one minute sir and I'll connect you." In the swift particular pattern of pressing buttons the call rung dully in another room as the teen hung up.

"East High School." Johnny mocked, his voice having a fake feminine tone while he gave the 'call me' gesture with his hand and batted his eyes.

"Shut it Mutt!"

"Tree Hugger."

"I'd rather hug them then pee on them." Ray noted, plopping down in one of the four swivel chairs behind the counter. Before she could even breathe a student came in with a familiar guilty expression on his young features. "I'm taking a guess here…..you need a tardy slip." Slowly the male student nodded his head meekly, while his cheeks gained a slight rosy tint as the brunette swiftly wrote out the necessary slip. "Got lost?"

"Um…yeah.." He muttered, the blush increasing.

"Let me guess…freshman?" Slowly the sandy blonde nodded again, his face resembling a tomato considering a certain wolf was snickering. Ray narrowed her emerald eyes before turning her attention back to the embarrassed teen. "Don't worry about it. I got lost in ninth grade too; heck I still get lost sometimes because how they switch things around so often."

"Yeah like every ten minutes." Johnny smirked, his mocking voice still thick with his 'Ray' accent.

A low growl came from the nature talented female's throat just as she handed the blue slip to the blushing student. Without any further delay the male darted from the tension thick room, while a sharp snap was heard echoing off the office walls. A satisfied smile crossed the blonde wolf's features at the now broken pencil in the female's hand and how her shoulders were now tensed. Though not a word left her pink…soft….kissable-

Johnny mentally slapped himself for the train of thought he was producing. She was the enemy!

"Listen here Mutt.." She growled dangerously low, her green eyes flashing with the fire that burned resembling a forest fire.

"Or what? You'll sick a grass blade on me? Oh, I'm so scared of the freak of a human girl, who acts more like a boy half the time then her actual gender."

Ray's fiery eyes faltered as a more sobering glaze washed over her expression, dulling the anger that had been rolling off of her in waves. She turned her head from the now quiet wolf, who had a feeling he hit a nerve that shouldn't have been hit. "Whatever Storm." Was the quiet response that his sensitive ears heard that made him slightly grimace, just before the high pitched final bell of the day sounded. "See ya later."

"I-" Johnny couldn't get the sentence out before she breezed from the room, leaving her burning honey and rose scent behind. "Crap!" He groaned, covering his face with his hands before growling lightly in his throat. "That girl brings out the worst in me."

"Hey, Johnny…something wrong?" Annabelle faltered, her cheery tone muting to match her friend's frustrated expression.

"No…what is it Annie?"

"You did remember that I asked you to get Ray home today right? You know since I joined the science club with Reed and they're meeting after school today."

The werewolf's cerulean orbs widened considerably. "When did you ask that!"

"Seventh period."

"What was I doing?"

"Reading a Hot Rod magazine." The vampiress supplied, tilting her head as to why the milky blonde was now pulling at his spiky locks. Then, the famous dead panned expression crossed her face. "You weren't listening were you."

"I'll take care of it!" He yelled over his shoulder, darting down the vacant halls. "Crap! Crap! Crap!"

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Ray's sneakers shuffled against the pavement of the sun bleached sidewalk, the frigid wind swirling around her bare arms, while her eyes preoccupied themselves with the stretch ahead. Earphones tuning out the world with the pop beat siphoning into her ears, making her deaf to anything around her. She turned right and began to pass various multi-colored apartment buildings with dingy little alleyways nestled between them; just a few more feet to the bus stop that could take her home. Then a hand grabbed her arm in a painfully tight hold.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

Her yellow tinted eyes rested as her substitute form slumped against the rough brick texture of the closest wall. "Bothersssome. Finding one girl in a colony thisss large; all to take out a puppy. Ridiculousss." Her slightly clawed fingers raked through her green tinged blonde hair. "I've captured every nature sssensssitive human I could find…" The scale textured female rambled slightly hissing, just before her senses began to burn. The sun glazed eyes snapped open, the slit like pupils constricting as she took in the new scent approaching.

That's when her snake eyes were greeted with the sight of a young brunette female human that was practically radiating a nature induced glow to her tan skin. A sadistic grin spread on the thin lips of the Basilisk as her forked tongue flickered out into the cold air, satisfaction heavy in her features. "Gotcha."

Her clawed hand lashed out from the protective shadows she had been hiding in, and grabbed the girl just as her green glowing eyes saw the reptilian woman. It took a matter of seconds for the monster's incredible strength to drag the human into the alley, but took even less time to a sharp gust of wind to act as a razor and slice at her artificial body. The Basilisk hissed at the green glowing hands of the female and at the thin stream of crimson cascading down her cheek.

"You wanna play that game girly? Fine with me."

The sunshine orbs of the snake began to radiate brightly, resulting in Ray instantly being placed in a comatose state. The luminous effect faltered while the female chuckled darkly, kneeling before her capture; her serpent gaze looking over the limp girl lying on the dark alleyway floor.

"Nature sssenssitive my tail, you're too fusssed with nature for that; Lord Victor hasss no idea what you are doess he?" She chuckled ominously, taking the girl's still face into her scaly hand, turning it so it faced her. "I bet you don't even know do you?" The Basilisk slightly hissed running her clawed hand through the female's chestnut locks, then gaining an expression of sadness. "Who would have thought ssssomething like you would exissst?"

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"CRAAAPP!" The blue eyed male growled, staring at the dark alleyway that held the thick scent of honey and roses mixed with that of reptile. "Where'd the heck did they go!" The werewolf's eyes shifted restlessly over the area before he got a dead panned look upon his features. "Her scent…..track her by her scent moron!" He groaned, before blurring off in the direction of downtown.

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A small whimper escaped the lips of the nature talented female as her eyes creaked open slowly. She blinked her sleep caked eyes twice before realizing she was encased in a white gauze-like cocoon, immediately she began to claw at the material only to find out rather painfully that her fingers tips began to burn from the contact. A sharp hiss left Ray's mouth, examining her now blistering fingertips. A growl bubbled forth from her throat, the air around the encasement beginning to flow differently from the female's ministrations. A sudden roar of wind sliced an opening in the flesh melting cocoon, but instantly the material began to stitch the remnants again. A fierce snarl left her that would have made any monster proud as her normal emerald orbs became consumed with neon green hue; her eyes glowed ferociously just when her hands burst into blazing flames. The acid laced silk didn't stand a chance against the scalding flames, reducing into black ash on the abandoned warehouse's concrete floor.

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Johnny slid to an abrupt halt in front of the ancient building, examining its broken glass panes, rusting walls, and the sound of flames roaring from within. "Can't she stay out of trouble!" In a wind rushing blur the wolf took in the scene before him. A woman in her mid-thirties soaring into one of the numerous block walls, her green tinted blonde hair and clawed reptile hand gave away instantly she was no human. The Basilisk raised her head, her yellow snake eyes glowing fondly at the sight of the fugitive wolf. A sadistic smile instantly spread across her too thin lips.

"Sso you're the pup." She hissed, her forked tongue flicking out periodically sending shivers up the male's spine. "I wass expecting ssomone a bit more….intimidating."

The milky blonde's azure eyes narrowed at the reptile, a growl slipping past his bared canines, matching ferocity with the onyx tainted claws glinting in the available over head light.

"Pleasse pup. I have more pressssing matterss to tend to. Take a number." The scaly skinned female smirked, her human legs melting away into a snake's tail.

In a flash of brilliant red the Basilisk hissed acidly at the brunette, swiping her tail at her. Ray flipped over the extremity, landing on her feet in time to dive to avoid the fierce claws of the reptile. Another burst of blaze to erupt from her first landing firmly in the monster's gut.

Johnny couldn't help the small gulp that was emitted from his tightening throat. _"Crap, this chick could kill me!" _ Rung in the wolf's mind, just as the Basilisk managed a hit in on the human.

Her tail connected to the young fighter's form, sending her forcefully into the werewolf. Johnny swiftly caught her just before his back slammed into the concrete wall from the force that she had been collided with him; allowing a grunt to leave his clenched teeth.

"Y-You okay?" He grunted, sniffing for any blood mixed in with her scent.

"I'm cool." Ray groaned, noticing that her ribs screamed with pain. "Maybe not.."

"I'm ssuprissed you haven't realized what sshe iss pup." The snake woman taunted, sizing up her soon to be prey while meeker hisses echoed behind her.

"Oh, crap." The blonde wolf muttered, causing Ray to turn in his holding grasp.

"We're utterly screwed." She cringed.

Behind the Basilisk lied ten baby snake's reaching at least eight feet tall, slithering up behind their mother, and looking hungry.

"Any ideas?" The brunette whimpered, thankful for how his arms tightened around her pain filled body.

"Where are the rest of the captives?" He murmured softly in her ear, making sure that the mother snake wouldn't hear him.

"I let them go pup." Answered the reptilian female, her snake tail curling slightly on end, while her babies began to surround the duo. "Why would I want them when ssshe wasss the target all along? We both know that Basilisk babiessss feed of people like her, and that girl hass enough energy to do the job. Not to mention Lord Victor sspecifically told me to take care of her. Sseemss like you've gotten on the bossss's bad sside missssy."

Johnny instantly began to shield the nature sensitive female from the mother, only to feel her resist. "Get behind me." Ray demanded, her eyes regaining their former glowing green state.

"What-"

"Just do it!"

Grudgingly the wolf hid behind the three inch short female's body, surprised to find it radiating a red aura that instantly sent alarms off in his head.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

_Flashback.._

"_Johnny get behind me!" The snow white haired woman demanded, her body encasing itself in a deadly red aura._

_The intruderous creatures inched forward snapping their claws at the five year old werewolf's tiny frame, sending frightened whimpers from his throat. Johnny immediately hid behind the tan woman's legs, clinging to the hem of her silk white dress, looking from behind at her glowing eyes at fierce scowl. The Chupacabras howled in rage at the snarling female._

"_Nini!" Johnny whimpered, terror evident in the young boy's high pitched voice while his ears lay plastered against his head and his tail tucked between his legs._

"_Stay behind me Johnny!" The female 'Nini' reminded with slight force in her voice before it happened. _

_A bright flash of red rolled off the white haired beauty's body instantly taking out the monsters._

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

Present..

The teen shook his head to rid himself of the memory just when it happened. The red aura intensified then a wave of pure flames rolled off the sixteen girl's form, a drop of perspiration rolling down her face as the blaze consumed the snakes in a barrage of hisses. It was just like his memory…but Nini had been…it wasn't possible he was being ridiculous. Ray was just a nature charged human. Humans do have that connection, some stronger than others if the multiple abductions said anything. The waves continued to send the reptiles into inferno until they were reduced to nothing more than onyx tinted ash. Ray's body slumped in exhaustion as she felt her chest heaving and drops of sweat roll down her flushed cheeks; her eyes returning to their now glazed emerald state.

"Tree Hugger?"

No sooner did she hear his voice, did darkness eat away at her vision before everything went dark, and her body going numb with pain. Johnny yelped, catching her falling body swiftly in his arms, and examining her limp form. Slowly he carefully turned her so that she faced his chest, her cheeks were flushed and her breathing labored making him acutely aware of how hard she must have pushed her body.

"Stupid Hippie." He muttered, slinging the still human over his shoulder. "Now I have to thank andapologize to her. Ain't my day just peachy?"

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The moon shone brightly in contrast against the velvety black sky, small specks of white twinkling above the wolf who was currently fumbling with the lock on the door of a certain nature girl's home. With a grunt Johnny pushed the slab open and waltzed into the living room, where he rested the still comatose female on the couch. He rolled his shoulder with stiffness, growling slightly as to how he had to walk the entire trip there since he couldn't blur while carrying her; since it could have hurt her further. But much to his distaste his cold blue glare softened at her parted pink lips, and her torn down chestnut hair.

"_I guess she's….kind of…cute."_

Immediately his face scrunched up, cheeks ablaze. "Bleck! I did not just think that!"

Ray eased her emerald eyes open to be met with a sight of a distressed Johnny Storm, who seemingly did not notice her alert state. Thought a groan escaped her dry lips, pushing her pulsating body into a pushing position, noting how the blisters on her fingers had burst open and were now bleeding.

"Great." The female groaned, gaining the wolf's attention.

"Well, look who's up! Sleeping beauty!"

Her eyebrow slightly twitched at his mocking tone, causing a vein to pop out on her forehead. "Look who's still stupid!"

"That'd be you miss fire psycho!" Johnny retorted, feeling his teeth grind.

"You're welcome for getting us out of there!"

A snort left the fuming werewolf, crossing his arms over his broad chest, and looking off to the side. "I could have got us out."

"Didn't see you doing anything."

"Shut up!"

"Whatever Storm, I'm going to bed!" Ray snarled, swinging her still tingling legs to the edge of the couch, and stood…well tried to.

Immediately her knees buckled, and she felt a familiar hand grasp her waist holding her close to his chest. "Klutz."

"No one told you to catch me." She reminded, feeling her throat tighten slightly at his warm breathe washing over her lips.

The signature smirk crossed the wolf's lips, though softened slightly; their lips merely a centimeter apart when the smirk turned into a devious smile. In a smirk he slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and lugged her up the stairs, all the while she punched his back and yelled at him accidentally hitting her leg against a wall.

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A sigh left the milky blonde his eyes burning from countless hours of watching the television in the living room, while a certain brunette slept upstairs. Reed had left a message reporting that the meeting lasted longer than anticipated so Annabelle just spent the night in Johnny's bed. The version Johnny heard was that he had to stay there with _her_.

He could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks at how close he had come to kissing those soft pink lips once again, with a growl though he shook it off. Immediately his cerulean eyes returned to the screen, when the soft sound of steps filled his sensitive wolf ears. He turned his head slightly to glimpse at Ray in her usual camisole and cotton short combo. Her chestnut hair falling past her smooth shoulders, and swaying slightly with her steps towards the back of the couch.

"You want something to eat? I got hungry, figured you would be to."

"Sure."

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"Thanks again for letting me spend the night. I keep forgetting my key!" The vampiress sighed, though cheeriness still evident in her tone. "And forgot where the spare was."

"No problem. Ray spent the night all the time when we were kids." Reed chuckled, retrieving the spare from underneath the welcome mat, and unlocked the door.

Gently the brown and white haired teen pushed open the dark wooden door, only to come face to face with an unusual sight. Annabelle, confused by his sudden pause swerved around the frozen nerd only for her mouth to form a shocked o. Before them, lying comfortably on the couch was Johnny and Ray. Both still in the sitting position, Ray snuggled tightly into the wolf's orange clad side, her face buried into his neck; while Johnny had his arm constricted tightly around the female's shoulders, having his face buried deeply in her curling chestnut locks.

"Oh…." Was the only sound that left the black haired beauty's cherry lips. Swiftly she pulled out a small camera and snapped a picture of the adorable scene, then stuffed it into her lavender jacket. "Let's let them wake up on their own."

"I'm all for that." Reed chuckled, not wanting to be the cause for the pre-determined reactions.

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The warm scent of honey and roses wafted the wolf's nose, while he felt a silky material caress his face. Slowly Johnny cracked his tired orbs open to see his face buried into a head of chestnut locks, and a certain female's arms constricted around his torso as one of her hands rested on his chest. Blood rushed to the blonde's cheeks, noticing his arm that was pulling her body tighter against his own. Gently Johnny began to pull himself from the entanglement, only to feel her body press closer and her arms tighten to hold him to her. His eyes wondered downward to the hand on his chest and at the bandaged fingers.

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_Flashback…_

"_What the crap are you doing Mutt?" Ray grumbled, being lifted from his shoulder and placed on the bathroom sink top._

"_Just hush!" He snapped, pulling out a small white box out from beneath the sink's under-storage. Carefully he pulled out several Band-Aids from the box's confinements and began the task of doctoring her wounds. After a few moments of awkward silence the wolf muttered, "Thanks and I'm sorry for…calling you a freak…and a boy."_

"_It's…okay.." She whispered softly, feeling her cheeks becoming coated by the pink dust. Gently the brunette pressed a swift kiss to the wolf's cheek, making his own face erupt in red. _

"_Thanks."_

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Present..

A gentle smile found its way onto the male's lips. _"Maybe a few more minutes won't hurt."_ He reassured in his mind, letting his face to once again to be buried in Ray's silky hair. A grin spread across the green eyed girl's lips, her eyes remaining shut, while she allowed herself to snuggle closer into the wolf's body.

Though it only was ten minutes later that both teens woke up and jumped apart, shouting at the other, both finding it difficult to pass the blushes on their cheeks for a furious blush.

* * *

No, that wasn't awkward, muhahaha! Well, I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter! Don't forget to R&R

See ya~!


	9. Parties and Payback

People of the Internet, how are you? It's time for another exciting chapter of Through the Portal!

Disclaimer: We own nothing, save for our OC's, Ray and Annabelle!

Enjoy~, oh, and don't forget to Review when you're finished!

* * *

"No no no nooooooo!" Johnny howled as he dropped to his knees, in front of him stood Ray and Annabelle at the door, gripping onto sleeping bags and totes.

"Oh boohoo dog breath, we're here, so deal with it!" the human girl retorted as she and the vampire walked passed the wolf, who rose back to his feet and pointed his clawed finger to Reed.

"Why. Are. They. Here?" he demanded through gritted teeth, causing a nervous laugh from the human boy.

"Well, after the whole Basilisk incident, I thought that Ray wouldn't like being by herself." Reed whispered to his partner, who still had a look of annoyance.

"She has Annie!"

"Well…less by herself." Was the only answer the human boy could give. The two went into the living room to see the girls on the couch, Ray stretching and Annie cuddling Paradox. Johnny stared at the human girl, with her staring right back. The two continued their stare off until a certain vampire's voice interrupted them.

"Who wants to watch a movie?" Annabelle chirped in, knowing full well what was about to occur. Her statement received three deadpanned looks and the ever famous chirping of a cricket.

"No, that wasn't random at all." The nature girl retorted.

"I was trying to help." The vampiress muttered weakly, shrinking from embarrassment. Ray couldn't help but sigh at her fang filled friend as she patted her on the head.

"Don't worry about it. But, I'm gonna be in the kitchen making a cake, and before you ask Egghead, yes it is your special cake, the one you really need to get help about." The human girl motioned to her human friend, whose mouth started watering at the mention of the pastry.

"_Wait a second," _Annabelle thought, her thought process ticking, _"Cake equals sugar, and sugar equals a happy Annie!" _

"Well get in there!" the vampiress exclaimed as she shoved her friend into the designated area before grabbing Johnny, "You too mister!"

"Why me?"

"Because let's face it, Ray's short."

"I can still hear you!"

"Anyway, she will have a harder time reaching the ingredients, which means time lost on fixing the cake, which leads to a very unhappy me…do you want an unhappy Annie?" The raven haired beauty questioned, a dark, menacing aurora engulfing her.

"N…no m'am." Was the quaint reply from the werewolf as he slid into the kitchen, shadowy eyes following him. Annabelle's look quickly became one of joy and glee.

"It's nice to find cooperative people, right Ree…dy?" the vampiress asked as she gazed at the horror-stricken human, eyes full of fright.

"Dox Dox." Paradox chuckled at Reed's discomfort.

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Ray irritably blew a strand of her stringy chestnut hair from her face as she stretched as far as she could; trying to reach the sought item on the third shelf. An agitated edge took on her features; Johnny, all the while, leaning against the farthest bar, arms crossed over his chest, and watching with mild amusement.

"Ya need some help shorty?" The wolf snickered, watching as her eyes narrowed and her hands went firmly on her hips.

"From you? No!"

"Suit yourself; here's a tip though, jump higher."

It was several jumps, groans, and snickers later that the brunette let out a sigh of defeat at the feeling of her limbs growing numb.

"Storm?" The female groaned, allowing herself to go flat footed, while looking meekly at the floor.

"What?" Johnny drawled out, a huge grin plastered on his tan face.

Ray's cheeks gained a slight pinkish tint, rubbing the back of her neck, and avoiding the wolf's now gleaming eyes and cocky smirk. He leaned in, his hand to his ear expecting to hear her request; only to receive a non-comprehendible murmur.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I said will you…get the flour down for me?"

"Why?" He smirked, leaning in dangerously close to the now fuming girl; loving the fire that was burning in those deep green eyes.

"I'm short you jerk and I need you to get it down for me. So will you _please_ get the flippin' flour down for me!" Ray gritted through her clenched teeth; refusing to allow her anger to wane any.

"Geez, no need to be crabby." The milky blonde chuckled giving off his signature smirk; receiving an eye roll in the process. At the action his smirk dissolved into a small frown. "Fine, fine, I'll get it." Johnny reached up, grabbed the white paper bag, and placed it into the petite hands of the female nature wielder. "Anything else?"

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Moments later the sighing werewolf had his toned back firmly pressed against one side of the bar, watching attentively as the brunette began mixing the cake batter adding each item at the sought time. Though Ray's concentration was anything but firm with a pair of azure eyes boring into her, viewing every move her steady hands were making.

"You can go you know. I don't need anything else from the shelves." The five foot five girl noted, scooping out some more powdery white flour, and dumping it into the clear mixing bowl.

"You really think I'm gonna leave the room and meet Annie's wrath? You're high."

A deep disgruntled grumble left Ray's pink lips, causing a smirk to spread on Johnny's. "Fine, if you're gonna stay you're helping. Open the new bag of flour while I get the strawberries."

"Strawberries?"

"The cake that Reed is so addicted to is a chocolate cake with chocolate icing with strawberries and honey mixed into both. The bad part is he always knows if I cheat so I have to make everything from scratch." She sighed, running a hand through her diagonal, side cut bangs that swept slightly just above her right eye. "So can you handle opening the bag and adding two more cups of flour?"

"Pssh! I took on a Gryphon Tree Hugger, I think I can do this!"

"Whatever you say tough guy." Ray shrugged, quirking a small smirk before opening the lower portion, the fridge, and began rummaging for the fruit.

POP!

Ray's head shot up to come face to face with a completely white Johnny. She bit her bottom lip, her frame shaking with restrained laughter, and tears building her green eyes.

Johnny began to twitch his now white eyebrow and sighed. "Go ahead."

Pure laughter rung from the nature girl's pink lips, her arms wrapped around her abdomen, and slightly bent over as tears run down her flushed cheeks. "How…the…crap…do you….managed to?" She managed out between laughs.

"It wouldn't open so I may have had to claw it open." The werewolf blushed, his white coated wolf ears lying flat against his spiky white hair. _"She…has…a nice laugh."_ The blonde thought innocently, feeling his cheeks warm up slightly more.

"O-okay, g-good thing there's another bag up in the cabinet."

"Yeah." Johnny chuckled awkwardly, as he began to reach up to get it.

"Thanks Snow White."

The werewolf's eye twitched as he turned his gaze to the female who still had an amused look on her face. "Oh, I'm Snow White?" Without another word Johnny scooped up a hand full of flour of the floor and threw it in the nature girl's face. "HAHAHA!"

Ray blinked emotionlessly for a few seconds before a small smile pulled at her lips as she scooped up hand full herself. Just before she could throw it the wolf tackled her to the floor, causing the flour to fly upward and rain on the two teens as Johnny straddled the girl while he shook the flour free from his spiky locks making sure it began to coat the girl.

"Stop it Storm!" Ray laughed, surprisingly to the wolf he had been expecting her to be mad.

"No!" He chuckled, as he began to tickle the female's sides laughing as she began to squirm in an attempt to get away from him. Though it didn't work. "Who's stronger McGuire? Come on say it."

"Y-you a-are S-Storm!" She giggled. "Okay, stop!"

"Nope say my first name." Johnny smirked, watching as tears began to run down her cheeks from the intensity of her forced laughter.

"You're s-stronger Johnny!"

"Now was that so hard?"

Ray was still slightly chuckling from the after effects of her laughter, using her hand to wipe them away. "Okay, I have to get up now to fix that cake before Anna kills us both." Swiftly she began to sit up, but froze in her movements when she saw just how close their mouths were.

Here emerald eyes watched his tensing jaw and the small amount of pink sprinkling on his cheeks; while he watched her own face gain the rosy tint as his azure eyes watched her part lips with intensity. "Um…yeah…we should get up."

"Mhm."

Slowly the wolf got to his feet and snatched the smaller girl's hand in his own; yanking her to her feet. Ray rubbing the back of her neck, her cheeks still flushed with embarrassment as they went back to the counter. The brunette focusing on the ingredients she was adding as the blonde pulled out his cell phone and began texting a random girl. Both fighting the tint on their cheeks that was rapidly increasing.

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"You want us to do what?" Annabelle questioned the psychic human, both of whom where hidden in the corner the living room, away from the kitchen.

"You heard me, tonight's the night we prank Johnny." Was the energetic response.

"I cannot condone the torment of my companions." The vampiress stated in a proper manner.

"Come on Annie, think about all of the times Johnny's gotten all three of us." Reed requested and which Annie did. She remembered all of the jokes the werewolf had pull during his time here, from the simple nose flick to a very complex pie in the face (But that is another story for another day.). With each memory, Annabelle's face grew darker and darker, for she also had to deal with his gags in the Monster World, which were a thousand times worse.

"Let's annihilate him!" The vampiress shouted with sadistic joy before the human placed his hand over her mouth.

"Or, or…we could just embarrass the crap out of him." Reed suggested before releasing his grip on the mouth.

"That could work as well." Annabelle stated matter-of-factly.

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"Okay…almost…finished!" Ray sighed relieved, looking over the chocolate cake.

The cake was nestled on a plain white plate, fluffy brown whipped icing coating it's surface, and honey dipped strawberries decoratively along the top. The honey drizzled in intricate swirl patterns allowing the mouth watering effect to be amplified.

"How the crap can you cook like that? Aren't you only sixteen!"

"Yeah, but when you have a dad that can barely boil water you pick up a few things." The nature girl chuckled, taking a knife to the corner of the cake and cutting two squares away from the main cake. She slipped the pieces onto two smaller plates, handing one to the wolf boy as she took a fork to her piece and ate a medium sized portion.

"Um?"

"It's for you. I figured we deserved a piece too. Especially with what happened with the flour." Ray supplied placing another piece into her mouth.

A small smile pulled at the wolf's lips as he began to devour his piece also.

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The brunette hummed slightly in her throat as she scrubbed the chocolate coated glass plates with the soapy white water. Johnny was currently running a fluffy white towel over the mixing bowel so to remove any excess water droplets; while his baby blues glanced over at the preoccupied female.

"Sooo"

"Soooo"

"Uh, well…..how's the weather?" He chuckled nervously, avoiding the girl's questioning gaze. _"How's the weather! How lame can I get!"_ The werewolf growled inwardly at the lame excuse on the comment.

"Um….well raining..apparently." Ray answered, gesturing to the rain drops splattering on the window's transparent barrier.

"Oh…yeah…."

A small smirk spread on the brunette's features as she was grateful for his attempt to get along with her. So with a devious grin she scooped up a handful of bubble's and blew them into the face of the wolf; who growled playfully and retaliated with his tail wagging and a smile on his face.

"Oh, it's on now Treehugger." Johnny chuckled as he threw a cluster of transparent orbs at Ray, thus beginning another play war.

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"Good move Treehugger." Johnny grumbled as he walked down the hallway, referring to the nature girl that had just won their bubble battle. The teen wolf was hoping to get a washcloth from his and Reed's bathroom to wipe off the water/soap mixture.

"Yo Egghead, ya in there?" Johnny asked as he knocked on the door, receiving silence as a reply. Guessing no one was in the room, the werewolf cracked the door opened, his face becoming pale white after doing so. Hanging on the ceiling was a simple beige-colored rope, tied into a noose at the bottom, where a head with a look of horror was hanging on the twine material. The head? Reed's.

"Egghead!" Johnny screamed as he rushed over to the cord, trying to think of some way to help his friend, "What happened?" he asked in a panicked tone, receiving silence as a reply. At this, the teen wolf kept his look of utter shock, with sadness entering its core.

"I'm so sorry Egghead, if I had known, I wouldn't have made fun of you, called you names, stole your money, accidently…" the werewolf paused as he heard the tiniest hint of a chuckle coming from the morbid rope. Johnny looked up to see the psychic human attempting to remain silent as he removed the noose from his neck.

"Hahaha! You should've seen your face." Reed laughed as he pointed to the wolf, who grew increasingly irritated.

"So you didn't…"

"Nope."

"You're not…"

"Nope."

"I'm so gonna freakin' kill you!" Johnny shouted as he chased the psychic human.

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"No."

"Please?"

"No Johnny." Ray stated sternly to a peed off Johnny, who was giving the death glare to Reed, who was hiding behind the nature girl.

"He deserves it!"

"Normally, I would let you. But this is a special moment; Reed actually pulled a prank that didn't blow up in his face. I'm so proud." Ray explained in a motherly tone, tears of joy running down her cheeks as she patted the psychic human on the head, "Now get Mutt!" she added in a much more hateful tone. Twitching, but knowing it was pointless to continue, Johnny stormed out of the kitchen, smoke steaming out of his ears.

"Stupid humans!" he mumbled as he turned the hall, coming face to face with another being.

"Oh sorry, I…" but the werewolf paused as he looked at the face, a face that would make the likes of Freddy Kruger cringe with terror. The face was old and crumbled, with its mouth breathing harsh, shallow breaths and its eyes empty of life.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Johnny screamed for the second time as he ran in the opposite direction, only for the terror to follow him while radiating an evil laugh.

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"So, Anna done yet?" Ray asked as she forked her piece of cake, plopping the chocolaty goodness into her mouth.

"I'd say she will be in a few minutes." Reed replied as he did the same to his piece, shivering in delight. Outside of the kitchen door, Johnny would run across every few seconds, chased by a Lolita dressed and Halloween masked individual, who was also chased by a much smaller masked form who spotted purple stitches.

"You're mine Wolf Boy." The larger being cackled.

"Doxdox!" followed its tiny cohort.

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"…You want me to do what now?" Was the unsure question from the nature girl, who currently had her arms crossed firmly over her chest.

"Seduce Johnny!" Annabelle beamed, her tone taking on the nonchalance edge to it.

A deadpanned expression crossed the nature girl's features that made the vampiress's eyebrow twitch, her ear to ear grin shaking with uncertainty. "Uh…no."

The black haired beauty dropped to her knees in a comical fashion, her hands clasped in front of her chest, and her voice reaching a new octave. "PLEASE!"

"No."

"PLEASE!"

"Uh…no."

"RAAAAYYYY!"

"No Anna!" The brunette scolded, her eyes flashing with irritancy while her friend shrunk back behind the beloved brown and white haired nerd. This was Reed's cue to step in and do the ever loving task of trying to take the bull by the horns, or the stubborn female by the throat, which ever works.

"Ray, think of it this way. You can get payback on Storm for the prank he pulled on you last week." The human teen offered, watching with slight smugness as Ray's face twisted with anger and her fists clenched at her sides.

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"_Oh McGuire!" Came the sing song tone of the spiky haired blonde that leaned against the brunette's once open locker, a wide smile stretching over his tan skin. "So I was thinking….ya know…maybe we could go on a date sometime."_

_Ray's pink lips parted in shock, while her eyes turned into green saucers. "Where's the punch line?"_

_A hurt look came over the wolf's features, his bottom lip jutted out in the classic pouting face. "I'm hurt. What's so hard to believe that I might want to date a pretty girl?"_

"_Now I know you're joking."_

"_Nope, I'm dead serious." He smirked, leaning in dangerously close to the female's strawberry lips that had begun to burn in anticipation. Ray could feel her heart pick up in pace slightly when he brushed his fingertips across her cheek swiping a stray strand of chestnut from her face. "Please."_

"_Uhm…..su…re..."_

"_Gotcha."_

_Ray's eyes widened at the sudden devious smirk that spread across the wolf's features. "What?"_

"_Gotcha, you know as in a joke. You didn't seriously think I'd want to go on a date with you, did you?"_

_The brunette gritted her teeth and smiled acidly at the wolf. "No, of course not."_

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Ray ground her teeth while blood flowed to her face giving it the nice red hue that spread to her neck. "So what was it that you wanted me to do again?"

Annabelle and Reed smiled devilishly at the other before returning their mischievous gazes to the fuming brunette.

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Johnny leaned comfortably into the plush material of the couch's back, his azure eyes firmly fixated on the multi-colored screen that was currently advertising a new video game that was going to be released next week. He was waiting for the X-Games to come back on when a familiar warm scent wafted his sensitive nose. Nonchalantly Johnny shifted his gaze to over the back of the couch only for his mouth to drop open and the loud 'thunk' of the remote hitting the hard wood floor be heard.

Ray waltzed down the steps, her bare feet pitter pattering against the surface. She had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep a loud laugh from erupting from her when she saw the wolf's lusty expression. Her long chestnut tresses lightly curled over her tan shoulders, her torso covered in a bright pink crop top showing her toned midriff off, and her jeans contouring to her every curve as she leaned against the couch giving the werewolf a heart breaking smile.

"Hey Johnny."

"Uh….h...h…h...hi….R…Ra….Ray." He stuttered, a small drop of drool rolling down his chin.

"You care if I join you?"

"What?"

"Do you care if I watch TV with you?" She purred lightly, allowing her fingers to gingerly take a strand of milky blonde.

"N…n….no."

With one more blush inducing grin Ray hopped over the back of the couch and plopped down next to the red wolf, which stiffened at her proximity. The brunette arched an eyebrow at his rigid posture and squaring jaw. "You okay? You look...a bit…tense."

"Not at all!" Johnny squeaked, his voice sounding like an over active chipmunk.

"Here, let me help." The nature talented female chuckled, turning him so that his back faced her turned body, and allowed her hands to begin kneading into his hard shoulders. "Better?"

"Sure!"

A devious smile crossed the female's pink lips as she brushed her soft lips against the back of the shaking wolf's neck; inducing a light growl to spill from his throat. In a blur he had the brunette's back pinned against the couch's arm, his arm placed on either side of her, while his lips were a mere centimeter away from her own. Her lips quirked up into a small smirk at the sound of his labored breathing and the way his wolf tail wrapped snuggly around her waist; making escape impossible.

"Isn't this where you say shut up and kiss me?" Without another word Johnny began to lower his lips to hers when, "Gotcha."

His eyes opened as he pulled back slightly, "What?"

"GOTCHA!" Chorused Annabelle and Reed, busting out of the closest closet pointing to the shocked wolf.

"Huh?"

"Who knew Ray could seduce?" Reed noted, examining a snap shot that they had just taken.

Johnny slowly pulled away from the female, her smile slowly melting into a frown at his scrunched up eyebrows and nervous laughter. "Yeah…you guys got me good…heh…funny." He offered a weak thumbs up that only furthered the female's concerned state.

"Are you okay Johnny?" Annabelle questioned, also noticing the change in the wolf's behavior.

"Psh, of course I'm okay! Nothing's wrong, I'm just going to go work on my Gym homework." The milky blonde chortled, a fake edge prominent in his voice as he turned from the group and blurred up the stairs to his room.

Reed began to follow his companion up the stairs, when a swish of pink made him stumble to a halt. Ray glanced worriedly over her shoulder, her hand still resting on the stair railing, "I'll take care of this. It's my fault this time."

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"Storm?" Came the soft feminine voice through the thick wooden door, filling the werewolf's ears, and making him wince. "Can I come in?"

"Uhhh…sure."

She creaked the door open and poked her head into the light blue decorated room. Her body soon followed, while holding a paper plate with two slices of triangle delicacies. "I…thought you might be hungry", She added, weakly holding the plate out to the wolf.

Johnny sat up from his previous lying down position and removed his arm from his face. Momentarily he eyed the food before sighing, "I'm not hungry."

"You sure? I put extra cheese on it."

"…..o..kay."

In a blur the triangles vanished and Johnny returned to his prior place on his back on his plush twin sized bed. His eyes staring up at the ceiling, while Ray bit down on her bottom lip nervously.

"I'm sorry okay, I'm sorry! What I did down there was low, it wasn't right of me to do that and I am truly sorry Johnny." The nature girl rambled, running a hand through her long tresses before heaving a huge breath.

The werewolf quirked an eyebrow at the teen girl, whose emerald eyes remained trained on him. "Its fine, what makes you think that I'm-"

"Gym homework really, what do you have kickball homework? Seriously Storm." The brunette rolled her eyes before taking in another deep breathe, "What do you want me to do to make it up to you? I'll dye my hair green; do your homework for a month, anything."

At this the milky blonde sat up stiffly keeping his suddenly intense gaze on the female. "Anything?"

"Yeah."

Without another word Johnny pushed himself off the bed and strode over to Ray. In one swift motion he snagged the gasping girl around the waist and pulled her into his chest, while whispering, "Shut up and kiss me."

The nature girl shivered at his hot breath caressing her lips before muttering, "Okay."

In a flash the wolf had his lips firmly pressed against her own, her soft hands cupping his face as he moved his mouth in sync with hers, making sure that the sparks kept flying while her fingers began to weave into his messy blonde locks. Hesitantly the blonde wolf pulled reluctantly away from the slightly panting female to be greeted by the sight of her pink sprinkled cheeks. "Even?"

"On one condition."

"Hm?"

It was a blur that she had molded her mouth to his once again, causing a small growl to leave the werewolf's throat as he returned her kisses in full.

A few moments later the two teens pried their lips apart, blood pooling in their cheeks while the awkward silence filled the room.

"Um….well…I guess…I should-"

"Yeah, I guess…" Nervously laughed the milky blonde, immediately releasing the human girl and rubbing the back of his neck.

"I'll see you downstairs."

"O-okay." Johnny blushed, watching as Ray's back retreated from the room, leaving him by himself as he tilted his head back and groaned, "What the crap did I just do?"

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"Nice to see you non suicidal!" Chirped the vampires, slapping the still slightly flustered wolf on the back.

"Uh…yeah…non suicidal." He murmured, noting how Reed had an eyebrow arched and his eyes trained on the wolf's face.

"Johnny, since when do you wear lip gloss?"

"Huh?"

"You have lip gloss on you." Reed commented, casually pointing to a mirror that was hanging from a nail on the wall. "See?"

Much to the werewolf's horror, there it was, a light glossy pink smeared on his mouth; causing said blonde to gain a nice rosy tint to his face, hurryingly wiping the substance from his face.

"Um….I thought…it was chap stick." Defended the backing away monster.

Johnny slowly backed away from the accusing star of his nerdy friend when his back pushed the bathroom door open and sent a rush of ice cold liquid over his form; drenching him to the core. Annabelle gasped, cupping her hand over her mouth to prevent any laughs from leaking out; while Reed openly snickered at the wolf's twitching eyebrow and plastered hair.

"MCGUIRE!"

Said brunette leaned around the corner, a devious smile on her face, "Now we're even."

Johnny couldn't help his own slight smirk from tilting at his lips before he chuckled, "You are soooooo dead."

"Uh oh, GOTTA GO!"

"MCGUIRE GET BACK HERE!"

Annabelle and Reed watched in mild amusement as the wolf chased the nature girl around the room desperately trying to choke her.


	10. Sickeningly Sweet

Hello everyone! Guess what, you get two chapters of Through the Portal instead of just one!

Disclaimer: We own nothing, save for our OC's, Ray and Annabelle!

Enjoy~, oh, and don't forget to Review when you're finished!

* * *

_October…_

Reed glanced at his wrist watch for the umpteenth time, and then sighed deeply, noting that Johnny was nodding off from his position of being propped up against a telephone pole.

"Maybe we should check on them." The brown and white haired teen suggested, watching Johnny groan slightly.

"You check on them while I sleep. Stupid human school, don't see why we need to get up so early anyway."

"Come on!"

"Okay, okay, geez maybe you need sleep more than I do." The blue eyed male smirked, only to laugh at the psychic human shaking his head and sighing.

The two teenagers shuffled down the sun bleached sidewalk, before hopping up onto a wooden porch, and knocking on the dark stained wooden door. Reed's eyebrow arched at the lack of answer, so once again his fist rapped against the hard surface only to receive a groan as an answer.

"Come in Egghead." A feminine voice, undoubtedly Ray, groaned.

Both males looked at the other, curiosity evident in their features. With a shove the slab of dark tainted wood swung open allowing both teens to enter the quiet home, which was in disarray; a severe contrast to the usual sparkling condition Ray would keep it in. She really needed a hobby. Reed swiftly entered the living area only furrow his eyebrows in disapproval of the situation, a look that became mirrored on Johnny's face as the two gazed at their female companions. Lying in the floor, sprawled on her back, lay the black haired vampiress; her face clammy and periodic whimpers leaving her once vibrant cherry lips, while her body was clad in classic matching purple pajamas. Ray remained in the fetal position on top of the plush sofa, her knees tucked tight to her chest, arms wrapped tightly around her legs, and moans of discomfort escaping her white lips. Her skin had the sheen of slight perspiration, a result of a fever no doubt, causing the brunette's camisole to cling to her curvy form.

"Girls, what's wrong?"

As if on cue a sickly cough left the green eyed female, before her hand clamped over her mouth, and she sprinted from the room into the bathroom, slamming the door promptly behind her. Reed arched an eyebrow, seeking an answer from the nearly comatose vampire.

"Food poisoning." Her soft voice whimpered out, one of her hands holding her stomach that grumbled actively. "And PMS."

The second one caused both male occupants to shudder involuntary. Ray chose that time to come staggering back into the room, a toilet flush echoing from the restroom, as she flopped down on the sofa immediately going back to her fetal position.

"Ray's worse than me." The vampires croaked out, shakily pushing herself up into the sitting position. "That pasta salad at school….never eat it."

A deep sigh left the brown and white haired teen as he ran a hand through his multi-colored hair. "Okay, there is no way we're going to school Johnny."

"ALRIGHT! See ya Egghead!" The milky blonde smiled cheekily, turning to depart, only to be caught by his elbow. "What?"

"We're taking care of the girls. I'll take Annabelle meaning that-"

"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, A MILLION TIMES NO!"

"Johnny, she's sick, plus like Annie said Ray's worse than her and I don't have the stomach to see her throw up every ten minutes. What good would I be to her if I couldn't enter the room?" The psychic human inquired, receiving an eye roll in exchange. "We are friends right?"

"Yeah…I guess." He grumbled, crossing his arms stubbornly over his tee shirt clad chest.

"Then do this for me, please?"

It was silent for a moment before the werewolf released a long with held sigh. "Fine! Fine! But, if she kills me I'm coming back to haunt you!"

"Thanks." The young genius grinned, lifting the still whimpering vampiress into his arms bridal style. "I trust you."

A moment later the two nerds were gone, leaving the two hot heads to remain on their own. Gradually Johnny glanced downward at the chestnut haired beauty, to be greeted with the sight of her sleeping peacefully in the fetal position. Her arms still vice gripped around her slender legs and her hair stringing messily in her face allowing several stray strands to stick to her clammy forehead. Gradually Johnny brushed his fingertips against the smooth skin, wiping away the strands, and finally feeling just how bad of a fever she had received.

"Geez Hippie, can't you stay healthy?" He muttered, lowering himself to sit at the end of the sofa, periodically glancing at the unconscious nature girl. "Then again you probably never had any problems before you met me." His azure eyes glanced over the girl's pale toned skin, flushed cheeks, and light dusting of perspiration along her neck and forehead. Gently the brunette shifted slightly in her sleep so that she was tighter tucked into herself, her teeth clinking against each other while a shiver ran through her form. "Great….I guess…..I better find something to warm her up with….because Egghead would kill me…yeah…that's it.."

Johnny began to search up and down for any spare blankets or quilts, anything, all the while he texted some cute blonde he had met the other day. A smug smirk crossed his features at their conversation, and how she was falling for the classic pick up lines. After admitting defeat the wolf rounded the corner, cell phone still in hand, and stared at the empty couch.

"Oh, crap….Tree Hugger!...Hippie!...Nature Freak...McGuire!...Ray!"

"What!" Snapped an annoyed feminine voice, though it was slightly muffled by her throat that had been rubbed raw from vomiting. "What's wrong?"

"Don't do that!"

"Do what? Go and throw up? Hate to tell ya, I'm gonna be doin' that a lot."

"Y-You know what I meant!"

A grimace rung across the Ray's features, while her fingers shot up and began messaging her temples as she leant against the nearest wall for support of her rapidly draining body. Johnny's fierce expression softened at the dark moons under her vibrant green eyes that were being concealed by an unknown sheen; he growled lightly in annoyance before stuffing his cell phone into his pocket. Swiftly he waltzed over to the nature girl, knocked her feet out from under her, and picked her up bridal style; making sure to hold her a little closer than necessary so as to get her freezing body heat up. Gently he sat on the couch; the brunette still tucked in his arms, and reclined backward so as to give her more room to maneuver, even though his arms were still locked around her.

"Um…could you-"

"No." Was his blunt answer, snatching up the TV remote, and clicking the blank screen on.

"But-"

"Nope."

"Why?"

"Just go to sleep would ya? You're practically freezing and I'm trying to warm you up, so just go to sleep would you." He sighed, a slight bite to the words, but not enough that there wasn't a small smirk on his lips.

"Mutt." She grumbled under her breath, small smile present as she curled into his warm torso, and snuggled into his orange tee.

"Yeah, yeah, go to sleep Tree Hugger." Johnny chuckled, refusing to let her see the light pink on his cheeks.

Without another word the brunette allowed her eyes to close, a smile still on her lips as she snuggled closer into his body.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

Ray's eyes snapped open; she leapt from the wolf's warm arms, and darted down the hall. The milky blonde's eyebrow arched at her sudden departure, only to be greeted with the sound of the bathroom door slamming shut and of a toilet flushing. He was sitting, eyes locked on the closed door, when he heard a tiny groan.

"Storm!"

"Yeah?"

"Can you get me some Ibuprofen?"

"…Ibu-what now?"

"Medicine cabinet!...Ugh, I'll get it."

The werewolf stood abruptly, "No, no, I'll get it! I totally know what that is." He laughed, acting as if the notion was ridiculous. But as soon as he knew he was out of ear shot Johnny's shoulders slumped. "I have no idea what that is!"

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

Reed was currently trying to pour the cotton candy pink liquid down the vampire's throat to treat her nausea, only to be snapped at by those sharp fangs, and her kicking and thrashing like a five year old throwing a tantrum. Just as it seemed he was going to win the struggle his cell phone rang, allowing the vampiress to escape.

With an irritated grumble he flipped the phone open. "What!"

"Egghead, help! Ray wants me to get her some Ibuslopen or something and I have no idea what that is!" Came the sound of a panicking werewolf and the noise of several bottles being jostled around.

"Ask Ray, she won't care to tell you."

"I…don't want to ask her!"

"Why…..are you trying to impress her Johnny?" The brown and white haired teen chuckled with a sly smile, knowing that the wolf's silence spoke for itself. "It's a white bottle with a picture of red pills on the label, give her two and some water, make sure you keep her warm, and do NOT fight with her."

"Got it, got it, and….no promises, but I'm trying."

Reed shook his head helplessly, a smirk currently dominating his features, but then remembered his current task at hand. "Annabelle, cotton candy flavored medicine!" He called, praying this worked.

In a blur of purple the chocolate eyed female was chugging the pink goo, downing the whole bottle in seconds, just before smiling widely. "That was good! Hey how are-" Just before she could finish her question the girl slumped over, unconscious, and snoring.

Reed couldn't help the sweat drop that ran down his forehead at that moment.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"Yo, Hippie, I got that stuff you wanted." Johnny announced, appearing in the bathroom doorway, pills and water in hand.

Ray was currently sitting with her back propped up against the white porcelain tub, her legs tucked to her chest, and her head resting on her knees. Groggily she raised her head slightly to give a barely noticeable nod and hold out her hand silently. A few moments later she was taking a mouthful of water in and swallowing the medicine as the milky blonde plopped down on the tiled floor next to her, curiously looking her over. She didn't look any better.

"You sure ya got food poisoning?"

A rueful chuckle left the female, "Oh, yeah, I definitely do."

"How do you-"

"I get sick whenever I eat something loaded with sugar or preservatives. Ever since I was little I've had little to no tolerance for them; so whenever I eat something like that I'm sick usually for twenty-four hours. That pasta was practically nothing but sugar, bleck!" The ailing brunette muttered out weakly, slumping over so that her head rested against Johnny's shoulder.

"So candy?"

"A piece, and that's pushing it."

"Ice-cream?"

"Two scoops maximum."

"Pizza?"

"Three pieces, I can handle most Italian foods."

"Geez, you're screwed up!" Laughed the wolf, his snickers escaping through his fangs that gleamed in the over head light.

"Coming from the werewolf." Ray murmured, a slight smile in her words, relaxing further into his body as he draped an arm around her shoulders. "Thanks Mutt."

"No problem Tree Hugger."

It was only a few minutes later that exhaustion finally won against her tired body, and her emerald orbs closed. Almost instinctually Johnny scooped her up into his arms and effortlessly carried her to the couch. Swiftly the teen plopped down on the couch, the unconscious female still in his grips, and leaned backward against the arm rest so that she could use him as a pillow/heater. Her face permanently snuggled into his neck, while her form remained pressed against his own; making a certain wolf have to fight the recurring red that was wanting to pool in his cheeks. Periodically his blue gaze would leave the color filled television screen and glance at the sleeping nature controller, wondering when she would rip free from him and run to the restroom again. A sharp shake of his head and a tiny growl made Johnny tear his eyes away from the scene, only to hear his cell phone going off. His hand automatically snatched the device out of his pocket, avoiding jostling Ray, and flipped the phone open; only to roll his eyes/smirk at the declaration of love some anonymous female sent him; even though he knew the number that sent it and knew the girl attached to it.

"_I bet you wouldn't catch Tree Hugger pulling something mushy like that…not that I think about it! Screw my life." _The wolf groaned internally tilting his head back so that he could continue staring at the white ceiling. "I don't think about her or anything….," He grumbled under his breath. "Why would I think about a human?"

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"No, you can't go check on them! You're sick!" The human genius protested, his arms locked around the vampire's petite waist, trying to pull her free from the open door way; she was winning.

"But….Ray…was…sick!" She struggled out, pushing past the archway and out onto the porch.

"Johnny's taking care of her! She'll be fine- Don't give me that look!"

"Reedy, Johnny had a pet goldfish when he was five. It died the first day because he wanted to take it for a walk." The black haired beauty dead panned, noting the frozen look on his face.

"How-"

"He took it out of the water and dragged it on the ground by a string!"

"I'm calling over there."

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

The werewolf repeatedly pressed the buttons on the remote over and over in a very predictable manner, when once again his phone went off. A quick scan of the screen had him flipping open the device and pressing it to his human for ear. He had changed back so that there wouldn't be a chance of him accidently scratching her or something with his deadly onyx claws.

"Yo, Egghead how's Ann….what about a dead fish… seriously I was five!" The milky blonde protested, a comical look plastered on his features. "Leave Goldie out of this! Yes, I named him Goldie-I was five do you really think I could have come up with a better name!...What about Tree Hugger? ….She's fine…She's sleeping…Uh….where? Now see that's a funny story."

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"She's sleeping on top of you!" Cried the brown and white haired teen. "How'd the crap she get there!...Oh, don't give me that 'she fell asleep there' excuse...Chicken Noodle Soup? Uh, yeah she should be able to eat that as long as it's homemade, why? No, you want to know for a reason….Don't you hang up on-"

"He hung up on you?" Annabelle dead panned, running her delicate fingers through her midnight hair, having gained the color back to her lips.

"Yep."

"She'll be fine Reedy, now back to more pressing issues….where's that medicine?" The vampiress questioned, a demonic tone evident in her voice causing the psychic teen to sweat drop.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

Ray snuggled further into the warm pillow, her stomach at the moment ceasing in its annoying churnings, and her ice melting fever having declined; but a small frown appeared on her face at the absence of a soothing smell that had lulled her to sleep. Groggily the female cracked her emerald orbs open to see that the TV was on, showcasing the latest football game playing in full swing. Though that's not what woke her up, it was the increasingly loud banging of pots and pans echoing from the kitchen. Slowly Ray made her way into the kitchen, only for her jaw to drop at the hurricane that is now her kitchen. And there in the center of the chaos stood the growling werewolf currently covered in flour.

"Uh….Storm?"

"Who, what! Oh….heh…hi Ray." He chuckled, a pink dust sprinkling his cheeks, while suddenly trying to smack any excess white dust from his clothing and hair; though it didn't go unnoticed by the female that he had his back blocking a specific area of the counter. "Wh-What are you doing up?"

"Since when do you stutter?"

"I d-don't s-stutter." Johnny stuttered; face palming a moment after knowing he just had. "No changing the subject, why are you up?"

"Heard the noise in here and figured I'd see what it was…and did you call me Ray? Since when do you use my actual name?"

"Since….uh…just go lay back down! You must be exhausted!"

Ray's eyebrows shot up onto her forehead. "Are you sick?"

"Just go! Somewhere, anywhere; not here!" The wolf lightly growled in annoyance, gently shoving the female out the door. The brunette spun on her heal only to have a masculine hand clamp over her re-pink tinted lips, effectively shutting out her protests. Her emerald eyes narrowed until they locked with a pair of deep cerulean blue, making them slowly soften at the tender look on the wolf's face along with having her cheeks warm slightly. "Please."

With a small and gradual movement she nodded her head, quickly making the wolf grin like an idiot.

"Just don't make anything explode Storm." She pleaded, a bit of teasing in her tone paired with her signature smirk made a quick pink appear on the wolf's cheeks that he growled at.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Tree Hugger."

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

A small growl left the lips of the chestnut haired beauty as she once again changed her positions that she was sleeping in, flipping onto her back so that she could stare up at the vacant ceiling. She was bored. And on top of that couldn't go back to sleep; pair that with the worry of having her kitchen blown to smithereens kept the female affectively awake, meaning it let her stomach remain active. She winced as another churn sent her flying to her feet and sprinting down the hall like an idiot, swinging into the bathroom, and sliding across the floor on her sweatpant clad knees until the toilet was placed directly in front of her. Ray couldn't stop her stomach from emptying its contents, or the tears building in her tightly shut eyes from spilling down her cheeks from the violent lurches that made her whimper. With one shaking hand she was trying to brace herself against the tiled floor, while the other hand was trying to keep her hair from flying into the mess she was producing, and that was a struggle within itself.

Not a moment ago she had been fine, talking and walking all without difficulty, until her stomach decided she was having too much ease. Finally, the nature girl was allowed to breathe as her stomach slowly starting to churn once again, but this time her pride crumbled, causing her to do something that she swore she wouldn't do. She swiftly flushed the toilet, already feeling the next round coming, and let her pain beat her pride.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"JOHNNY!"

Said wolf, jumped teen feet into the air, from the high pitched yell. He dropped the bowl he had been bringing down from the cupboards and darted down the hall, until he paused in the door way and took in the sight before him. Ray kneeled over the white toilet bowl, one hand holding her stomach pressing against the white camisole, while her other struggled to keep her wild chestnut locks back.

"Uh…you called?" He stuttered, frozen in place.

"Can you hold back my hair?" She groaned out in between spasms.

Without a word the werewolf swiftly gathered the silky locks between his fingers and effectively held them away from her face, freeing her other hand to hold onto the side of the toilet, to keep her from falling backward. In between churns pants filled the air, before the sound of material hitting water entered his ears, making him wince from the repetitive pattern.

"You okay?" Johnny muttered, once she started panting again.

"No." Ray groaned, reaching her shaky hand to flush the toilet's contents; already feeling the smell alone making her nauseous. "This sucks."

"I'm sorry." He murmured, rubbing her back soothingly, feeling a slight dampness through the thin fabric of her shirt. "Feel better?"

"For now." She whispered, beginning to push herself upward only to collapse on her knees with a groan. "Hand me my toothbrush and toothpaste will you?"

Obediently the wolf handed her the neon green brush with the minty blue paste coating its bristles. Ray brushed her teeth repeatedly, spitting the remains into the toilet, until the foul taste left her mouth. Without another word she tossed the brush into the trash, and pulled a new one still in its package from a drawer and sat it on the sink top.

"There is no way I'm using that one again."

"I don't blame you. Can you get up?"

A grunt left her now pale lips as she hauled herself to her feet with some effort, using one hand on the sink and the other on the wolf to steady her shaking body. "Why are you being so nice?"

"Don't question it if I'm not."

A shaky laugh left the nature girl's dry lips. "Point; um…," She drifted off an embarrassing tone taking on her face. "Could you..um…"

A devilish smirk crossed Johnny's lips; seeing the red pool in the sick girl's cheeks at the thoughts of her request. Without a word he knocked her legs out from under her and picked her up bridal style, cradling close to the flour splotched tee, and carried her to the couch.

"Never took you as one to get embarrassed." The milky blonde wolf laughed, easing himself down on the fluffy cushions before lying onto his back, taking her with him.

"Shut up Mutt. I'm sick." Ray groaned, turning her face so that he couldn't see the blush intensifying and her gnawing at her bottom lip at the feeling of his arms tightening around her form. "I'm not in my right mind."

"Are you ever-Ow!" He whined, rubbing a bump appearing on the side of his head from her smack; though that didn't stop the grin that appeared on his lips. "Okay, I'll quit…So question..since when do you call me Johnny?" A devious grin spread at her tensing and at the small growl that left her.

"Shut up Storm."

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"Thank you Reedy!" Annabelle smiled, cradling the plush, blue blanket to her form, before wrapping herself in the material. "I was freezing!"

"I know, I could hear your teeth chattering in my sleep." The nerd chuckled, sleepiness coating his voice, while he ruffled his already mussed brown and white locks. "Sleep tight Annie."

"Thanks for taking care of me." The female added, snuggling deeper into the wolf's covers, while across the room Reed did the same thing in his own bed.

"No problem Annie..." He blushed, hoping she wouldn't notice, but was convinced she didn't due to the loud snoring that began to leave her; making another chuckle leave the young genius. "Hopefully I can ask her soon." He added on a more solemn note, just before he joined his vampiric companion in sleep land.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

Johnny drew his eyes away from the ceiling, fully convinced the ailing female had finally drifted off. His azure orbs took in her slightly parted rosette lips and her chestnut locks curling slightly around her form; while she shifted in positions. The milky blonde wolf tensed at the feeling of her velvety lips brushing against his tan neck, followed by consistent puffs of hot air meeting his skin; causing the werewolf to shudder. It took a moment for him to detach himself from the sleeping girl, a small blush on his cheeks, as he trekked back into the recently cleaned kitchen. His attention solely on the silver pat bubbling quietly on the reddening stove top; swiftly he spooned out some of the contents into the small green bowl before gripping one of the nearby plastic spoons for the concoction.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

Ray awoke to warm lines gently trailing down her cheek that quickly withdrew at her jade eyes slowly opening; greeted with the sight of Johnny sitting on her coffee table, bowl in hand, and a small cocky smirk on his lips.

"Here, eat up."

Ray's eyebrow shot up at the small green bowl, and waves of steam rolling off its yellow tinged surface. "Trying to poison me?"

"I wouldn't be this forward if I was, stupid."

"Who you calling stupid, idiot?"

"Obviously you Hippie, you're the only other person in the room!"

"Mutt!"

"Tree Hugger!"

"Wolf-Boy!"

"Just eat it okay!" Johnny snarled, pushing the small container in her petite hands. "It'll help you."

Ray grudgingly put a spoonful in her mouth, and cringed at the horrid taste. She slowly, tortuously swallowed the lumpy goo; noting the proud smile on the wolf's face.

"How was it!"

"Uh…delicious, but I'm stuffed." She lied, politely smiling before handing him back the bowl. "Thank you though."

"Well no need to let a masterpiece go to waste." He shrugged, putting a heaping pile into the spoon.

"Johnny no-"

He placed the goop in his mouth and the smile melted off immediately into a look of pure disgust; he spit the soup back into the bowl and gagged wiping his tongue on his shirt sleeve. "How could you swallow that crap! Bleck! You dirty liar!"

"You looked like you worked hard on it."

"I did but geez if food poisoning hadn't killed you that stuff would!" Johnny grumbled, wiping his tongue again on the tee.

"Sorry." Ray chuckled, slightly smirking as he put the bowl down and jumped back onto the couch as though even being near the stuff would kill him on the spot. "Thought that counts."

"Not if it kills you." Johnny sighed, shaking his head, while glancing at the female who still held a pale undertone to her skin. "You feeling any better?"

"Yeah…sort of….no."

"Come here stupid." The milky blonde smirked, wrapping his arms around the girl, and effectively pulling her on top of him so that her head rested on his chest.

"Why did you make-"

"Reed told me you could eat chicken noodle soup if it was homemade….yeah didn't go too well." He cringed, remembering the after math.

"Aw, don't tell me the puppy wuppy has a soft spot for me." Ray smiled deviously, poking the growling wolf in the nose as to prod him further; though he turned the tables on the girl.

With a devilish smirk Johnny flipped them so that he hovered over the now wide eyed female, lowering his forehead so that it touched hers and that his lips barely brushed her own. "And if I do?" Ray's eyes widened momentarily until she saw his frame shaking from laughter, then her own growl left her.

A kick sent the wolf soaring off the girl and landing on his back in the floor still cackling with humor. "Jerk!"

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/

"So you nearly poisoned her with soup?" Annabelle clarified, restraining her own chuckles at the wolf's over dramatic pout.

"Shut up Annie!" He whined, shoving his hands further into his pockets. Then he noticed a missing edition to the team. "Where's the moron at anyway?"

"Oh, she's getting her make-up work for us from the office. Why are you blushing?" the vampiress raised an eyebrow, before gaining a devious smirk. "She's grown on you hasn't she."

"No!"

"Johnny."

"NO!"

"Jonathan Spencer Storm." The black haired beauty smiled, planting her hands on her hips in a firm manner.

"N-" The wolf's protest was cut off by the sight of Reed and Ray exiting the office, both laughing and smiling while comically juggling ten books. Ray blew a strand of her hair from her face and gently tucked it behind her ear, as she talked to the nerd. Johnny gained his own small smirk that Annabelle noted and glanced over her shoulder to see the object of his smirk.

"Uh-huh, no feeling what so ever?"

Ray's emerald eyes connected with that of sapphire before her own smirk tilted her pink lips. She stuck her tongue out at the wolf, before walking with Reed towards the exit; leaving a certain wolf with a wide smile. "She's….not horrible." He admitted, watching her back retreating and missing Annabelle's rolling chocolate orbs.


End file.
